
Class 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




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u.s senator AUZ govebwob. OF WISCOITSW 



THE 



HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



CHARLES LINTON 



" Light one another." 
" Love one another." 
Preach and practice the truth." 



WITH A>~ 



INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX, 



NATHANIEL P. TALLMADGE, 



LATE UNITED STATES SENATOR AND GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN. 



; Here's freedom to him that wad read, 

Here's freedom to him that wad write ! 
There's nane ever fear'd that the truth should be heard 
But they wham the truth wad indite." — Burns. 




SECOND EBxT.O-y. 



f ublisliefr bg tin 

SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE. 

553 BKOADWAT, NEW YORK. 
1855. 



p 









Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S55, by 
CIIAELES LINTON 

AND 

NATHANIEL P. TALLMADGE, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Dist 
of New York. 



DAYIES AND KOBEETS, STEREOTYPElw , 

201 William Street, N. T. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The title of this book, " The Healing of the Nations," 
is dictated from the same spiritual source as the book 
itself. The writer, Charles Linton, is a native of New- 
town Township, Bucks County, State of Pennsylvania, and 
is now about twenty-six years of age. He is a young man 
of good natural capacity, of limited education, having only 
had the advantages of a common district school in Penn- 
sylvania, and that, too, at a time when the common schools 
of that State were not as far advanced as they now are. 
He had no opportunity of going beyond the common 
branches, and, as he has often said to me, " never did like 
to go to school/' At the age of sixteen he went to learn 
the blacksmith's trade, and worked at it till nearly twenty- 
two years of age. He then engaged as a clerk in a dry- 
goods store in Philadelphia, and afterward as a book- 
keeper of a firm of lumber commission merchants. Whilst 
thus engaged, he became developed as a writing medium, 
and most of his time since he has been thus employed. 
Some of the purest and most exalted communications 
which I have seen have come through him. His character 
for personal integrity and moral purity is unblemished. 

About a year ago Mr. Linton was directed to write no 
more miscellaneous communications, but to give his atten- 
tion to writing a book which would be dictated to him 
through spiritual influence. He procured, according to 
direction, a thick bound blank volume of the largest ruled 
letter sheet, and in that volume commenced writing. The 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

volume itself is almost a miracle. The chirography is 
beautiful. His handwriting in this volume is totally dif- 
ferent from his ordinary handwriting, and can be read as 
easily as print. He writes with a steel pen, and the orig- 
inal writing of this book is in the bound volume above 
mentioned. It is written with an accuracy and neatness 
which could not be surpassed by the most expert copyist. 
There are four hundred and thirty pages in the volume, 
and not a word of importance erased or interlined through- 
out the whole ; and any slight mistake, however immate- 
rial, is entirely attributable to the inattention of the writer. 
A large portion of the book has been wTitten in my 
presence. I have, therefore, had the very best opportunity 
of judging of the manner of the writer. During the time I 
was with him he wrote from five to ten pages a clay. He 
wrote rapidly whilst the influence was on him, and when 
it left he would cease writing, and generally not resume it 
till the next day. I have frequently interrupted him in the 
middle of a sentence, and engaged him in conversation. 
As soon as the conversation ceased he would go on and 
finish the sentence without a moment's hesitation. Many 
literary and scientific gentlemen have examined the orig- 
inal volume, and pronounce portions of it beyond human 
conception. The style is simple and faultless, and adapted 
to every capacity. The most astute critic can not strike out 
a word in a single sentence, and substitute another which 
he can truthfully say will improve it in style or sentiment. 
Neither can he select a sentence that he can in like man- 
ner say does not embody or enforce some truth. I can, in 
no way, better describe the feelings, the impressions, and 
the influence under which this book has been written by 
Mr. Linton, than in his own language in the following 
communication to me : 

When about to write in the book entitled " The Healing of the Nations," I 
felt descending upon me an influence whose holy sweetness words can never 
express. 

Ere talcing my pen to write, my whole being entered a calm and tranquil 
state which was expressed to the Holy One in a devout praj'er — such as this : 



INTRODUCTION 

" Oh, Father, if it so please Thee, let Thy servant write only that which shall' 
glorify Thee." 

And in answer I have written that which I felt to be truth, though at times 
my outward ignorance was much at a loss to substantiate the wisdom of that 
written. 

I have never written without the influence of that unseen Power, for it has 
been my constant desire that I might never write one word of error, or of that 
which would not lead to man's highest good, and to the highest knowledge of 
God. 

When writing I always preferred to be alone, though I have often written 
in the presence of my own family or friends, and sometimes in the presence of 
entire strangers. 

The presence of other persons seemed to disturb the quiet calmness so very 
necessary to the flow of that which I do believe to have been from the highest 
spiritual source ; and for this reason it was thai I preferred to be alcne with 
the Power under whose dictation I wrote. 

During the writing of the book I scarcely read any — in any book, or in any 
form — being conscious that I retained nothing at all of that which I attempted 
to read. 

Strange as it may appear unto some readers, I never referred to any bock 
before the writing, during, or since having finished the writing of " The Heal- 
ing of the Nations." 

I never had any books by me save the one in which I wrote. How the con- 
tents of the book correspond with the contents of other books I do not know ; 
neither need I care, believing, as I firmly do, that there is nothing but truth 
in it. 

It was always sufficient inducement for me to write to feel the sweet influ- 
ence enveloping me as a flood of light in which was all that I could imagine 
as necessary unto heavenly happiness. 

I have written in all kinds of circumstances without any apparent diminu- 
tion of the control of my system had by the unseen Power. The one thing ne- 
cessary for the obtaining of this feeling — this holy influence — was calm, quiet 
Prayer. 

I know that prayers are answered ; how, is explained in the book. 

I have felt and seen all that I wrote. I have experienced most holy joy, 
most serene happiness ; and again have felt the keen despair of the tortured 
spirit. I have viewed the operation of essences and principles, apparently 
seeing them as distinctly as any outward object. I have seen all the scenery 
as in the book described ; and., in short, all that is there written at the time 
wrote was felt by me as though it was then and there present. 

I feel thankful unto God for the bestowal of so much happiness as I have 
experienced whilst writing, and since writing, " The Healing of the Nations." 

It has truly healed my spirit, and I may add that one other spirit, as dear 
unto mine as its own existence, hath found in the words flowing from my pen 
a balm most healing. It has driven hereditary darkness from our path, and 
opened a channel unto the Fountain of Light, whose outward flowing waters 
have nourished our love until it is as the rock cf Eternal Truth. 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

Words can not tell how this high and pnre spiritual influence feels — else 
would I strive to detail all of my experience ; and sure am I that all who read 
of such happiness would strive to seek its pleasure. 

The ideas seemed at times to enter my mind with a gleam of light, and were 
instantly before me waiting to be worded ; at other times I could not see one 
word ahead of that which I was writing, and have written on, one word at a 
time, that when the word was written it appeared disjointed and disconnected 
until the whole sentence was finished, and behold ! I saw a great truth, build - 
ed, as it were, almost without my knowledge. 

I have at times been conscious of an entire vacancy of what I should term 
my own mind ; at other times my mind has been exercised violently on some 
outside subject, and still the writing would continue as though the mind were 
calm. This was after having commenced writing, as I never commenced ex- 
cept in the manner above described — calmly and quietly. 

I have written from one half page to as high as ten or eleven pages daily. 
The book was commenced on the eleventh of the eleventh month, eighteen hun- 
dred and fifty-three, and ended fourth month ninth, eighteen hundred and 
fifty-four. (Commenced Nov. 11th, 1853; ended April 9th, 1854.) I lost one 
month in writing, being away from the book at the time. 

There are four hundred and thirty (430) pages of manuscript, closely writ- 
ten, and scarcely containing one mistake. I can say positively, there is no mis- 
take of any kind which did not arise from my own inattention during the writing ; 
the dictating Power being always right, so far as my comprehension goes. 

I have never felt but one Presence and but one Power, which is to me as dis- 
tinct as my own animal feelings. I know the instant it approaches, and can 
instantly tell when it leaves me, at which time I have ceased writing, and com- 
menced exercising in the open air. 

Some will naturally ask, " What is that Power ?" In answer to this question 
I must say, I do not positively know. I leave every reader to be his own 
judge; believing as I do in individual responsibility, I feel at liberty only to 
tell what I believe, namely, that it is from the highest spiritual source, leaving 
positive truths unto God, and all men to judge their own judgment. My be- 
lief concerning the source whence the book came can enly be my own belief, 
and I do not want that to be adopted by any man unthinkingly. 

Would that I could give all mankind as much happiness as I have experi- 
enced whilst writing under this influence. I am certain, from its effect upon 
myself, that good unto them would result therefrom. 

Would that all would endeavor sincerely to ascertain whether there is such 
a blessing as Inspiration numbered among the gifts of God unto man. Would 
that all would strive of themselves, with their own individual powers untram- 
mclecl by any outward considerations or influences, to draw down from the 
Fountain of Wisdom that which giveth purest happiness — the love of God. 

I had not the faintest idea, at the commencement of " The Healing of the Na- 
tions," what the course would be of that which was being written ; and I must 
say, that no person can be so much surprised as myself at the order and regu- 
larity of the course pursued both in regard to the subjects, and the reasoning 
elucidating them. 



INTRODUCTION. < 

I never planned, or attempted to plan, any thing ahead in writing ; for be- 
side of the Power dictating I felt truly as a little child in wisdom, and can 
now thank God that I was permitted to have a child's trustfulness — thus 
writing as dictated unto, unheeding the opinions of my own selfish nature. 

I have frequently been asked, " Why do you reject the credit of composing 
' The Healing of the Nations ?' " I answer all such inquiries thus : " Common 
honesty bids me do it." 

I commenced the book unknowing that it was to ever be any thing save a 
few disconnected sentences, continued page after page, not knowing but that 
every sitting would finish that at which I seemed to be writing. Thus was I 
ignorant until the book was more than half finished, when the plan seemed to 
be dimly opened before me, and in all I had done I could now distinctly feel 
the hand of God working out his own glory, even as I had earnestly desired 
might be done. 

This to me does not seem much like co?nposing the book ! 

The only credit I desire to have, and that which I feel to be my due, arises 
from the fact that I have desired humbly and sincerely to glorify a 
Loving Father and benefit man. Any man who honestly and openly 
reads " The Healing of the Nations*' will give me this credit, and surely I need 
not ask more. True it is, that let men say and do as they will concerning that 
which is written in the book, they can never reach that sweet place within my 
own spirit, wherein, morning and evening, and in the shady neon, I feel 
" Well done" vibrating to the Voice of Him whose servant I am proud to be. 

I have felt more peaceful happiness in this inward communion with the un- 
seen Power whose scribe 1 seemed to be, than the voice of all mankind could in 
praising give. Hence do I speak of my work as though it was not my work, 
and give credit unto whom credit is due. 

From this communication it will be seen that the book 
has been written under an influence believed by Mr. Lin- 
ton to be from the highest spiritual source. The beauty 
and simplicity of style, and the purity and sublimity of 
sentiment, may claim not only a spiritual, but the highest 
spiritual source. The chapters are divided into paragraphs, 
just as they were written — the numbers only have been 
added. 

In presenting this book to the public, I do it on my own 
responsibility. Neither Mr. Linton nor any one else is ac- 
countable for the opinions expressed by me. In intro- 
ducing it, therefore, to the reader, I deem it incumbent on 
me to give, briefly, the views I entertain of "Spiritual 
Manifestations." Those views are principally the result of 
my own personal observation and experience. 



b INTEODUCTION. 

When these manifestations were first announced to the 
public as the "Rochester Knockings," like most others, I 
paid no heed to them ; they were so incredible and so 
marvelous, and not having the support of names known to 
me, that I passed them by as a delusion, and had no incli- 
nation even to investigate them. This feeling with me 
continued till May, 1852, when I accidentally saw in a 
leading newspaper in the city of New York a communica- 
tion of Judge Edmonds on this subject, copied from some 
other paper or periodical, and accompanied by the editor 
with remarks very severe and denunciatory of the Judge 
for the avowal of his belief in such an imposture and delu- 
sion. I had known Judge Edmonds intimately for more 
than thirty years — had practiced law with him in our high- 
est courts — had been associated with him in both branches 
of the Legislature of the State of New York — and also as 
members of the Court for the Correction of Errors. After 
my election to the Senate of the United States, he was 
elected a Judge of the Supreme Court, and subsequently 
became a Judge of the Court of Appeals. I knew him as 
a man of finished, classical education, a profound lawyer, 
astute in his investigations and in analyzing testimony, un- 
surpassed in his legal opinions and in the discharge of his 
high judicial duties ; and above all, I knew him to be a 
man of unimpeachable personal integrity, and the last to 
be duped by an imposture or carried away by a delusion. 
Under these circumstances I felt that I should do great 
injustice to him and to those with whom my opinions 
might have weight, and still greater injustice to myself, if 
I should longer hesitate to investigate the subject. I felt 
that however strange and improbable these manifestations 
might appear, I could not, as an honest man, after they 
were thus vouched for on the authority of a responsible 
name, any longer, even tacitly, unite in the denunciations 
of them. I felt that something was due to human testi- 
mony — that testimony on which our belief in all things is 
founded — that testimony on which the Sacred Scriptures 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

themselves have been handed down to us through a long 
series of more than eighteen hundred years, and without 
which we should have no authentic evidence of their ex- 
istence. I felt that I should despise myself, and that I 
ought to be despised by others, if, without investigation, I 
should presume to express opinions against these mani- 
festations after such authority for their truth. This feeling 
has been corroborated by my own experience ; and I have 
looked on, " more in sorrow than in anger," at the thought- 
less, flippant, and vapid assaults which have continued to 
be made, notwithstanding the manifestations have been 
piled up, " like Ossa upon Pelion," and backed by an ar- 
ray of names which would adorn the history of any science 
or of any cause. Under these impressions of duty I com- 
menced my investigations, which resulted in a thorough 
conviction of the truth of spiritual intercourse, as will be 
more fully evinced in the course of these introductory re- 
marks. 

ISTo cause in the history of the world has made such 
rapid and unprecedented progress as "Spiritualism" since 
its first introduction. Unaided, and without an effort on 
the part of its friends and advocates, and with an oppo- 
sition unparalleled for its perseverance and its bitterness, 
it has moved onward with a momentum as resistless as it 
is overwhelming. It already numbers in its ranks talent 
of the highest order in every department of science and the 
arts, the most distinguished of the legal profession, the 
most elevated of judicial functionaries, the most eminent 
of legislative bodies, the most enlightened of the press, and 
the most pious and learned of the pulpit ; and above all, it 
enrolls among its votaries the purest and most intellectual 
of the female sex, whose modesty and whose virtues would 
sanctify any cause, and whose advocacy, when openly pro- 
claimed, will put to flight and to shame the unmanly at- 
tacks of ignorance and bigotry, and tear from the great 
" Mokanna" of hypocrisy the unhallowed vail which has 
so long concealed the horrid deformity of its features ! It 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

already numbers more ably edited and better sustained 
newspapers and periodicals than any religious sect or de- 
nomination in the country; and it has presented to the 
public mmd specimens of " spiritual literature" unsur- 
passed in beauty of style and sentiment, and unequaled in 
profundity and sublimity of thought.* 

Notwithstanding all this rapid progress and wide-spread 
belief in "Spiritual Manifestations," there is nevertheless a 
pervading ignorance on the subject amongst the masses 
hardly to be anticipated in this enlightened age. At the 
same time the fault is not theirs, but is chargeable to those 
whose duty it is, and whose position requires, that they 
should enlighten and instruct their fellows in what con- 
cerns their temporal and eternal welfare, namely, those 
who control those mighty engines for good or evil, the 
Pulpit and the Press. 

As I have already said, there are high and honorable ex- 
ceptions in both these departments. But the public press, 
as a whole, is without excuse for the manner in which it 
has treated this subject — a subject presenting phenomena 
the most extraordinary in the history of the world, and 
vouched for by names, whose testimony, if the facts were 
in issue on the trial of a man for his life, would convict and 
execute him. Yet with these facts staring them in the 
face, and with this testimony before them, they have in the 
most violent terms denounced not only the subject, but the 



* The following remarks, from a recent publication against Spiritualism, 
prove the correctness of my statement. Its opponents will not contradict the 
evidence of their own witness. 

" In the city of New York, to which circle our personal investigations have 
been confined, there are, at the least calculation, forty thousand sincere be- 
lievers in spiritual rappings. We can not pretend to give the number of the 
disciples of this new spiritual doctrine scattered throughout all parts of the 
United States. It is sufficient to say that it is immense, and far greater than 
the public generally imagine. These believers arc to be found in every class 
of society, from the highest to the lowest, and among minds of every degree 
of capacity and cultivation, from the mosi accomplished scholar to the mest 
ignorant of the ignorant." 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

investigators. When called upon to publish the views of 
its friends upon which their comments have been made, 
they have not only refused, but have made that reasonable 
request the ground for renewed attack, and still more vio- 
lent assault. Their readers have therefore remained in 
ignorance not only, but have been plunged into deeper 
darkness by reason of the one-sided and distorted views 
which have been presented by the boasted intelligence and 
the enlightened liberality of the American press ! What- 
ever may be the origin of these extraordinary phenomena, 
whether they be spiritual or philosophical, they are equally 
entitled to the consideration of every intelligent mind, and 
more especially of those minds that control and direct the 
public press, because to them the masses look for informa- 
tion on all subjects, whether spiritual, philosophical, or po- 
litical. 

In saying this I say it in all charity, and in a forgiving 
and Christian spirit. At the same time, charity, the bright- 
est gem in the crown of Christianity, requires that the 
truth shall be told, let its crushing weight fall where it 
may. The following remarks of Lord Bacon to me and 
others are peculiarly applicable to all denouncers of 
" Spiritualism" without investigation, and were given by 
him whilst recommending charity toward those who did 
not, for want of information, believe. 

a Let the dog bark, the cat mew, or the ass slavishly toil 
for mere animal existence, still nature will assert its just 
claims whether in man or brute. And to him who, with- 
out evidence of either right or wrong, can denounce that 
as untrue which he has not investigated, you may j ustly 
attribute the true prerogatives of his nature. He will bark 
dog-like to the compulsion of his brute-like organization, 
and he will toil like the ass to perpetuate the slavery of 
opinions to which he is bound by error and prejudice." 

But a still more gentle rebuke, and a still higher sense 
of responsibility on the part of the conductors of the 
public press, will be found in the following extract from 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

the book itself, which these remarks are intended to in- 
troduce : 

God requireth no uncertain action. Thou must know, else write not, nei- 
ther speak nor act. * * * The man who can govern a press, and that 
which flows from it, hath great chances to instruct almost numberless parts 
of this great sum — man. And let him take good notice of all that cometh 
from his great distributor of knowledge. 

Let him watch every word and be sure that truth is therein, for his labor is 
filed in heaven, and if his deeds be not good he hath condemned himself 

Would the managers of the press remember that there is an All- seeing eye, 
who knoweth not only every printed word their press utters, but the spirit 
and intention in which it was uttered, before whom their sheet is either pure 
and spotless, good intentions, or smeared with the dark ink of darker passions 
than ink can express, they would be less reckless of their individual respon- 
sibility. 

The pmpit, too, has lent its aid to confirm this ignorance, 
instead of attempting to dissipate it by wise counsels and 
discreet conduct. Its denunciations have been hurled 
against the cause and its advocates, regardless alike 
whether they struck down friend or foe, and without re- 
flecting that the rebound might injure much more the 
assailant than the assailed. Instead of attempting to en- 
lighten the bigotry of the age, its efforts have only tended 
to sink it still lower in the scale of progressive intelligence, 
and to prevent its further advancement. 

The believers in " Spiritual Manifestations" have been 
denounced as denying the truths of the Bible, and the 
manifestations themselves have been cited as confirmation 
of the truth of those denunciations. All this has been done 
against the protestations of the most distinguished advo- 
cates of " Spiritualism," and against their earnest asser- 
tions, that the manifestations prove the Bible, and that the 
Bible proves the manifestations. These protestations have 
been made after a patient and thorough investigation of the 
whole subject, whilst the denunciations have been uttered 
without investigation, and consequently without knowl- 
edge. 

The Bev. Adin Ballou, who was one of the earliest and 
most thorough investigators, and who has written a most 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

candid and satisfactory explanation of the phenomena, 
says : 

Whatever of divine fundamental principle, absolute truth, and essential 
righteousness there is in the Bible, in the popular religion, and in the estab- 
lished churches, will stand. It can not be done away. On the contrary, it 
will be corroborated and fulfilled by spirit-manifestations. * * * * Our 
All-wise and benignant Father in Heaven has left no essential truth or right- 
eousness dependent on the mere pretension or wncorroborated testimony either 
of departed or w/ideparted spirits. He has addressed his revealments of essen- 
tial truth and duty to the moral reason of mankind, and authenticated them 
by every necessary attestation. Any attempt, therefore, to build up a religion 
or moral philosophy radically different from the genuine Christian Testament, 
on what is being disclosed to the world through dreamers, somnambulists, 
impressibles, clairvoyants, spirit-media, spirit-rappings, etc., is absurd, and 
must prove mischievous rather than beneficial to the human race. But funda- 
mental truths and duties may be re-affirmed, clarified from error, demon- 
strated anew, and powerfully commended to the embrace of mankind by fresh 
spiritual communications. I am of opinion that this is really the case ; and 
the conversion of many long-confirmed atheists and deistical rejectors of the 
Christian revelation confirms me. 

The Eev. Charles Beecher, at a regular meeting of 
" The Congregational Association of New York and 
Brooklyn," was appointed to investigate the " Spiritual 
Manifestations." It should be borne in mind that he is 
the pastor of a regular orthodox Church. In his elaborate 
report he assumes the hypothesis that " spirits can only 
obtain access through prepared odylic conditions ;" that this 
was the mode of communication by the ancient prophets, 
and to substitute, any other theory u cuts >up by the roots 
large portions of the prophetic Scriptures." And he adds, 
" Whenever odylic conditions are right , spirits can no more 
be repressed from communicating than water from jetting 
through the crevices of a dyke." Mr. Beecher concludes by 
saying : 

Whatever physiological law accounts for odylic phenomena in all ages, will 
in the end inevitably carry itself through the Bible, where it deals with the 
phenomena of soul and body as mutually related, acting and reacting. A 
large portion of the Bible, its prophecies, ecstasies, visions, trances, theopha- 
nies, and angelophanies, are more or less tinged with odylic characteristics. 
The physiology, the anthropology of the Bible is highly odylic, and must be 
studied as such. As such it will be found to harmonize with the general prin- 



14: INTRODUCTION. 

ciples of human experience in such matters in all ages. If a theory be adopt- 
ed everywhere else but in the Bible, excluding spiritual intervention by odylic 
channels in toto, and accounting for everything physically, then will the cov- 
ers of the Bible prove but pasteboard barriers. Such a theory will sweep its 
way through the Bible and its authority ; its plenary inspirations will be 
annihilated. 

This is the conclusion to which the Eev. Mr. Beecher 
arrived after a long, careful, and patient investigation of 
this subject. How proudly do the views of these reverend 
gentlemen above quoted contrast with those reverends who 
have so bitterly denounced the manifestations as an im- 
posture and delusion, and who, according to their own con- 
fession, have never investigated them, and of course know 
nothing about them ! 

I might quote many more of the clergy to the same 
effect. In this connection, however, I will only cite an- 
other able writer, and there leave this branch of the sub- 
ject. 

Howbeit we know that the Holy Spirit, from the " day of Pentecost" until 
now, has vouchsafed to communicate with man. Hence, the disembodied spirit, 
being of the same essence, can make known its wishes through the same chan- 
nel ; for be it understood, there was a mode of intercourse established by 
Jesus Christ. This being conceded, then it follows that spirit would be able 
to use it, as all spiritual information contained in the Bible was imparted 
through the mortal being. Hence, we who believe in the Divine inspiration 
of the Scriptures, can not deny the possibility of these so-called spiritual 
manifestations. 

Neither can those who deny such inspiration reject the divinity of Christ ; 
because if they do, what logic could such Spiritualists bring to prove that 
man, material, could communicate with spirit, spiritual ? It can only be 
demonstrated by these facts, namely, that man fell from his spiritual state ; 
that spirit, infinite in power, reunited the mortal to the spiritual — thus ena- 
bling it again to converse with spirit, as before man's fall. Rejecting these 
men cast off all hope or ability of proving that spirit does communicate with 
matter, or that it ever was able so to do. * * * Hence, man must first 
purge from his mind all prejudices against the Bible, before he is competent 
to examine the phenomena called spiritual manifestations. And, on the other 
hand, the Bible believer must likewise set aside all that would bias his mind 
to think adversely to what agrees with common sense. 

These denunciations by the clergy are still more aston- 
ishing when we reflect that the writings of the old fathers 
of the Church, for four or five centuries after the time of 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

Christ and his Apostles, are full of these " Spiritual Mani- 
festations." They were claimed at that day as evidence 
that the true spirit of Christianity dwelt in the Christian 
Church. And the Roman Catholic Church claims to have 
them even down to the present time. And still, both the 
Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy denounce these 
modern manifestations, thus ignoring what the Church has 
recognized from the earliest period of Christianity. 

I have always maintained, and still maintain, the Bible 
as the word of God ; and I agree with that accomplished 
scholar and jurist, Sir William Jones, who declared that 
" The Scriptures contain, independently of their divine 
original, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more 
important history, pure morality, and finer strains both of 
poetry and eloquence than could be collected within the 
same compass from all other books that were ever com- 
posed in any age or idiom." And when I hear clergymen 
denounce "Spiritualism" as denying the truths of the Bible, 
I can only say, " they know not what they do." They 
might with greater propriety denounce all denominations 
of Christians except their own, because they differ from 
each other as to what are the truths of the Bible. The 
Roman Catholic believes in transubstantiation — in the real 
presence — that the real body and blood of Christ is con- 
tained in the consecrated wafer. He goes to the Bible for 
the truth of this doctrine. Some Protestants go to the same 
book to prove this doctrine rank blasphemy. Most of the 
Christian world find in the Bible the doctrine of the Trin- 
ity, whilst the Unitarian sect, one of the most intelligent 
and intellectual in this country, finds in it the unity of the 
Godhead. The same might be said of all the various doc- 
trines of the different religious sects and denominations — 
they are all, according to their respective advocates, to be 
found in the Bible, however inconsistent or antagonistic 
they may be. When, then, these reverend gentlemen tell 
us that " Spiritualism" denies the truths of the Bible, will 
they be so good as to agree upon and inform us what those 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

truths are ? Christ never taught sectarianism. That has 
been taught by the creeds of men. Out of these creeds has 
sprung up the antagonism of the Christian world — an an- 
tagonism which brought Cranmer, and Latimer, and Kid- 
ley, and Servetus to the stake — and which would bring 
Spiritualists to the stake also, if we were not so far ad- 
vanced in the light and progress of the nineteenth century. 
i 

" All bliss 
Each claimed as his alone, denouncing one 
The other : both all warning that fierce fire 
Burned for their sake who sware not by a creed 
Garbled, patched up, and contradictory ; 
Confounding text and comment, with no rule 
Interpretative ; now as literal, 
Now figurative, holding laws like plain, 
Which, where most true, impracticable were, 
Where possible, intolerable." 

Every real Christian looks forward to the time when this 
antagonism shall be done away, and we shall stand on one 
broad platform, founded on the doctrines taught by Christ, 
instead of the doctrines taught by the creeds of men. May 
not these manifestations be the dawning of that brighter 
day? 

"Without more light, or without an inner or spiritual 
sense for the interpretation of the Scriptures, it is impossi- 
ble that this antagonism shall ever cease, or that these dis- 
crepancies shall be obliterated. This inner or spiritual 
sense, and the law for its interpretation, it is believed, is to 
be found in the Bible itself. "The letter killeth, but the 
spirit giveth life." A reverend and learned writer says : 

Some may ask, why the Scriptures, if they are the word of God, were not writ- 
ten so as to require no explanation — why is it that they are not plain to all minds 
alike ? These queries may be disposed of in a single sentence. Spiritual things 
can not be expressed to n atural minds but by natural mediums. Moreover, each 
mind has an individuality which not only distinguishes it from every other, 
but which is itself continually changing. It is therefore evident that a literal 
vehicle, not requiring explanation, could not be advantageously employed for 
the enunciation of heavenly truths. The divine must, as it were, speak in ci- 
pher to the human. Nor need this be a stumbling-block in the way to a right 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

understanding of what He says, when we have learned that the law of inter- 
pretation is contained within the Scriptures themselves. 

Another able writer remarks : 

It is believed that, owing to the numerous conflicting sects, the mysteries of 
the Scriptures, the difficulty of knowing what to believe, that opinions, vary- 
ing little from Deism, and totally destitute of spirit, and vitality, and power to 
edify, have spread more or less through all classes, and that secret infidel- 
ity prevails to a great extent. Hence the pulpit is comparatively powerless, 
and Sabbath after Sabbath presents the sad spectacle of congregations to whom, 
in a great degree, the words of the preacher are lifeless and without avail. 

I believe that all the truths necessary for salvation are 
contained in the Bible. But in this conflict of religious 
opinions it is impossible to ascertain what those truths are, 
i and each sect must determine that matter for itself. What 
is wanted, then, on this subject, is more light to bring out 
and elucidate those truths. That light has been shed, from 
time to time,-during the Christian era. The doctrine of the 
Trinity, in which by far the largest portion of the Christian 
world agrees, was not distinctly settled till the fourth cen- 
tury.* If this doctrine is founded on truth, that truth is 
contained in the Bible, and existed no less before than after 
this doctrine was established as an item of the Trinitarian 
creed. Why was it thus established ? Simply because its 
advocates thought the lapse of centuries had shed new light 
upon it, and had made that plain which before was envel- 
oped in doubt and darkness. 

" What though the written word be born no more, 
The Spirit's revelation still proceeds, 
Evolving all perfection." 

So with the astronomer — by the aid of an improved 
telescope he discovers a new planet ; or, as some philos- 
ophers suppose, he discovers it by reason of the rays of 

* And even then, says a learned writer, " The first attempt, at the Council 
of Nice, to establish and make universal the Trinitarian creed, caused dis- 
turbances and dissensions in the Church which continued for ages, and which 
produced results the most deplorable to every benevolent mind which exalts, 
charity over faith." 

2 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

light, which have been traversing the immensity of space 
with incredible velocity for thousands and thousands of 
years, having just reached the earth.- In either case the 
newly-discovered planet no less existed before than after 
the discovery. But new light, like the truths of the 
Bible, brought it to our notice and our adoption. So 
" Spiritualism," like the star of Hope, whose benignant 
rays have, for ages, been traversing the trackless waste of 
time, makes itself manifest to our mental vision, although 
obscured by the bigotry and superstition of centuries which 
have gone before us. 

Those great truths of the Bible have, perhaps, been left 
obscure to us for wise and good purposes. We can not 
fathom the wondrous ways of Providence. They were de- 
livered to an unprogressed and sensuous people, and were 
handed down with all the light which they and their de- 
scendants could bear. But the very obscurity which sur- 
rounded them was evidence that more light, from time to 
time, would be shed upon them, as the people became 
more enlightened and better prepared to receive it.* If 
this were not so, we should, no doubt, have received more 
of the teachings of Christ and his Apostles than those 
which have been transmitted to us. We are told by St. 
John, " There are also many other things which Jesus did, 
the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose 
that even the world itself could not contain the books that 
should be written." Now, suppose that an account of a 
very small portion of these things had come down to us, 
such an account would undoubtedly have thrown addi- 
tional light on that which we have received. For Christ 
could not say or do any thing that would not tend to elu- 
cidate the great truths which he delivered to mankind. 
Suppose, too, that a small portion of the teachings of St. 
Paul, who preached some thirty years, had been trans- 
mitted to us, in addition to his Epistles to the different 

* Christ said, " I have yet many things to say unto you, but you can not 
bear them now." — John xvi. 12. 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

churches, would they not have served to render more 
plain the doctrines which he taught, as they were handed 
down from Christ, and about which Christ's followers have 
been contending for more than eighteen hundred years ? 
If these doctrines were not designedly left in partial ob- 
scurity, or if it was not intended that new light should be 
shed upon them in the lapse of time, why should the 
human mind be distracted by the various creeds which 
have been established, and by the various expositions of 
almost every essential portion of the New Testament ? I 
need only refer to one prominent and striking example, 
where, in regard to a single text, " Now a mediator is not 
a mediator of one, but God is one ■' — Gal. iii. 20 — not 
less than two hundred and forty-three expositions have been 
written ! A learned professor well remarks, " It were well 
worth while thoroughly to weigh the causes of so enor- 
mous a discrepancy of opinion in the interpretation of the 
Holy Scriptures — a discrepancy of which the whole range 
of classic literature nowhere affords so portentous an ex- 
ample. 1 " And still, learned divines, with the utmost self- 
complacency, denounce " Spiritual Manifestations," on ac- 
count of their discrepancies, and because they deny the 
truths of the Bible — truths about which they themselves 
can not begin to agree, and some of what they call truths 
are there by interpolation ! 

I was once delivering a lecture on " Spiritualism" to a 
very large audience, and whilst commenting on the truths 
of the Bible, and the alleged discrepancies of the " Spirit- 
ual Manifestations," I said I had seen a communication 
which stated, that verses 7 and 8, of chapter 5, of the 1st 
Epistle of John, was an interpolation ! I was asked to 
read the verses ; I read as follows : 

• 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, 
and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one. 

8. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the 
•water, and the blood : and these three agree in one. 

A kind of shudder, a sort of holy horror, seemed to per- 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

vade the audience, that this orthodox text should be de- 
nounced from the spirit- world as an interpolation of the 
Scriptures ! Many were ready, as I learned afterward, to 
denounce as blasphemous the very allegation of such a 
thing. I, however, soon relieved myself and the spirits 
from any responsibility, by informing the audience that 
the communication to which I alluded was from an em- 
bodied and not a ^embodied spirit ! that this celebrated 
passage had been disputed ever since the commencement 
of the sixteenth century, and that the pious and learned 
Kitto, the latest and best authority on the subject, remarks, 
" That the disputed passage is found in no Greek manu- 
script, save only in two, both belonging to the fifteenth 
century ; and that it has not once been quoted by any of 
the Greek, Latin, or Oriental fathers. It is now, therefore, 
omitted in all critical editions of the New Testament." 

Luther, the great Eeformer, denounced the Epistle of 
St. James, and denied its inspiration, because it seemed to 
impugn his doctrine of " justification by faith alone," and 
taught, " that by works a man is justified, and not by faith 
only." Still the Epistle of James was received as one of 
the canonical books of the New Testament. I only cite 
these facts as specimens of the numerous discrepancies in 
the interpretation of the Scriptures, and to show how ex- 
tremely cautious reverend gentlemen should be in de- 
nouncing others when they can not agree amongst them- 
selves. 

These " Spiritual Manifestations" are recognized and 
foreshadowed in the Bible. 1 Cor. xii. " Spiritual gifts" 
are recognized and described by Paul in his day as a 
" manifestation of the spirit," the same as the " Spiritual 
Manifestations" of the present day. For to one is given 
the word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge ; 
to another faith ; to another the gifts of healing ; to an- 
other the working of miracles ; to another prophecy ; to 
another discerning of spirits ; to another divers kinds of 
tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues. And 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

what was enacted then is being re-enacted now.* These 
" Spiritual Manifestations" are also foreshadowed by the 
Prophet Joel in the Old Testament, and by the same 
prophet as cited in the "New Testament (Acts ii. 17, 18). 
" And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, 
I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men 
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour 
out in those days of my spirit ; and they shall prophesy." 
Notwithstanding all these and numerous other passages, 
which recognize and foreshadow these " Spiritual Manifest- 
ations," still they are denounced by the clergy as contrary 
to the truths of the Bible, and those who investigate them 
as enemies of the religion of Christ. As I am one coming 
within that category, I will take leave, on this occasion, to 
enter a little more into detail on this subject. In my in- 
vestigation I have endeavored, so far as in my power, to 
hear and read all that has been said or written against 
" Spiritualism," although, for want of time, I have not 
been able to hear or read every thing that has been said 
or written in its favor. In pursuance of this determination 
I listened to a sermon against the " Spiritual Manifesta- 
tions," of which previous notice had been given, preached 
in Trinity Church, "Washington City, by the " Eev. C. M. 
Butler, D. D., Rector." That sermon has since been 
printed, curtailed of some of the rough points which char- 
acterized its delivery. As the reverend gentleman saw 
fit, in the course of it, to honor me by name, I am unwill- 
ing to pass him by unnoticed on this occasion, lest such a' 
seeming neglect might unnecessarily wound his sensibility, 
not to say his delicacy. At the same time, in thus intro- 
ducing him, I introduce him as the representative of a 
class, and not in his individual capacity. What he said 

* Christ even foreshadowed greater things than these ; for He said, " He 
that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works 
than these shall he do." — John xiv. 12. 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

on that occasion has been said by many before him ; 
though in his ultraism he has, in some respects, out- 
stripped his predecessors. My limits will not allow of a 
general review of his discourse ; but I will touch a few 
prominent points by Avay of illustrating the principles of 
" Spiritualism," and shielding it from the attacks alike of 
ignorance and bigotry. 

The reverend gentleman starts with the broad proposi- 
tion, thrice repeated, that there is not " recorded in the 
Old or New Testament a single instance of a disembodied 
human spirit manifesting itself on earth, and communicat- 
ing with men." By way of illustrating this proposition, 
he cites the Scripture in regard to consulting "familiar 
spirits," and also gives his views in reference to Saul and 
Samuel, Abraham and Lazarus, and Moses and Elias. In 
this sort of polemics, authority sometimes goes as far, 
if not farther, than argument. I therefore avail myself 
of the authority of the Rev. C. H. Harvet, of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, as well as his able argument on 
these several texts, which together are more satisfactory 
to my mind, as they will be to the mind of the reader, than 
any thing I could offer. [See Appendix A.] 

After this triumphant vindication of the " Spiritual 
Manifestations" against the "lame and impotent conclu- 
sion" of Dr. Butler, it would seem unnecessary to pursue 
the subject further. At the same time, I can not refrain 
from citing an additional authority from another distin- 
guished writer, Prof. S. B. Bhutan, who says, in allusion to 
this subject : 

It should be observed that -what is said of the rich man, his brethren, and 
the beggar, including the interview between the former and father Abraham, 
is not a relation of actual occurrences, but merely a parable, which is a fabu- 
lous or allegorical representation from which some important moral or useful 
instruction may be derived. This view has been entertained by the most dis- 
tinguished commentators. "The main scope and design of it seems to be, to 
hint the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, who, though they had Moses and 
the prophets, did not believe them— nay, would not believe, though one (even 
Jesus) arose from the dead." 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

Professor Beittan proceeds : 

The following extract from the fifth and sixth pages of the Doctor s dis- 
course, for the bold dogmatic spirit and utter recklessness of statement which 
it exhibits, is not likely to be transcended : 

" It is to be remarked, moreoyer, that among all the strange and miraculous 
events of both dispensations, there is not one instance on record of the mani- 
festation of a disembodied human spirit to the minds of men. Samuel appeared 
to Saul under the incantations of the witch of Endor, as much to the surprise of 
the sorceress as to the terror of the impious king. But it was not the disem- 
bodied spirit of the prophet which manifested itself to Saul. It was his body, 
or a visible representation of his body, which God miraculously summoned for 
his own wise purposes. Moses and Elias appeared in visible forms, talking 
with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. At the time of the Saviour's 
crucifixion, it was not the disembodied spirits of the saints that revisited the 
earth, and peeped, and muttered, and rapped through floors and tables at 
Jerusalem ; but it was ' the bodies of the saints that arose and appeared unto 
many.' There is not, amid all the miraculous appearances of angels, and of 
men temporarily summoned from the regions of the dead, which are recorded 
in the Old and New Testaments, a single instance of a disembodied human 
spirit manifesting itself on earth and communicating with men." 

Here the author positively affirms that neither the Jewish nor Christian dis- 
pensation has furnished a single instance of the return of a departed human 
spirit, or the manifestation of such a presence to the minds of men. Speaking 
of the case of Samuel, Dr. Butler says, it vjas not the "spirit of the prophef 
— i. e. , the prophet himself— which appeared to Saul ; but we are told that 
God performed a special miracle, either reconstructing the decomposed body 
of Samuel, or otherwise producing a visible image of the prophet's form. Thus 
the Divine Being is represented as directly cooperating with the Witch of 
Endor by a most unusual and marvelous display of his power, and for what 
purpose ? What, but to give the most signal endorsement to witchcraft, and 
to deceive the Hebrew king, by causing him to believe that the spirit — Samuel 
himself— was really there, when it was only an automaton figure that arrest- 
ed his attention. Our author and his brethren are shocked with the profane 
nonsense of Spiritualists, who maintain that departed human beings come 
back and make their presence felt amongst men, by revealing their forms, or 
otherwise, but he evidently presumes that it altogether comports with the dig- 
nity of the Divine nature to do the same thing, even to produce a mere puppet 
to support the pretensions of an old woman, who, according to our author's 
notions, was in league with the devil. Is not this straining at the gnat and 
swallowing something larger ? Moses and Elias are disposed of in the same 
manner. It is all the work of an instant. Their immortal natures are exor- 
cised by a single dash of Dr. Butler's pen, and behold they are nowhere. 

Jesus doubtless thought that he was honored by a spiritual visitation " on the 
Mount of Transfiguration." Moses and Elias verily appeared to be there, with 
all the imperishable elements and faculties of their spiritual being. But 
according to Dr. Butler, they were not there at all ; Jesus merely saw and 



24: INTRODUCTION. 

conversed with " visible forms," composed of common earth and air. In like 
manner all the saints who are said to have appeared at the time of the cruci- 
fixion are promptly dismissed or forbidden to show themselves, while their 
mortal remains, disorganized, corrupt, and corrupting, are made to crawl 
through six feet of kindred earth, and to stalk abroad on its green surface, 
lb was not the departed saints who " appeared unto many," accoiding to Dr. 
Butler, but only a number of soulless bodies, which very much resembled the 
saints themselves! To such unmitigated absurdity modern theologians are 
driven to get rid of the spirits. Like children frightened at a ghost, they rush 
headlong and blindly away, not pausing to consider whether, in order to 
escape the phantoms, it be better to dive into a ditch or stumble over a wall. 

These absurdities result not only from Dr. Butler's ig- 
norance of the " Spiritual Manifestations," but from his 
careless and reckless reading of the Scriptures themselves. 
How else can we account for that bold and unqualified as- 
sertion, that there is not a single instance of a disembodied 
human spirit manifesting itself to man ? What does he 
make of that portion of Revelation delivered to John on 
the Isle of Patmos, where he says, 

And I, John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard 
and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me 
these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not ; for I am thy fellow- 
servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings 
of this book : worship God. 

Here was a disembodied human spirit, one of the old 
prophets, called an angel — in other words, a messenger of 
God — sent to deliver to John, and through him to the 
world, the most important revelations ever made to man 
since the time of Christ. And yet this passage of Scrip- 
ture is entirely overlooked or ignored by the reverend gen- 
tleman in his zeal to disprove the fact of a disembodied 
human spirit ever returning to earth ! Why, every boy, 
whom his mother has taught to read the Scriptures, is per- 
fectly cognizant of this fact, and would, without hesitation, 
cite it to disprove the position taken by Dr. Butler. How, 
then, are we to account for this apparent recklessness? 
Not that he has not capacity to understand so plain a por- 
tion of Scripture, for the position he occupies precludes that 
idea. Not that he would intentionally attempt to mislead 



INTRODUCTION. ZO 

his hearers or his readers, for his character as a clergyman 
is presumptive evidence against that. It can only be ac- 
counted for by an oblivious memory, by which the passage 
had been wholly obliterated from his mind, the same as a 
partial obliteration caused him to say that " the rich man, 
in torment, desired that Abraham might be sent to his 
brethren on earth," instead of Lazarus, as the Scripture 
account hath it ! 

It is with extreme mortification and humiliation that I 
am compelled thus to speak of Dr. Butler. He belongs to 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, to which, from my ear- 
liest manhood, I have been, and am still, devotedly at- 
tached. He is one of the professed guides of the church. 
How, then, could I be otherwise than mortified and humil- 
iated when I heard from such a source the crudities and 
absurdities which he has put forth to enlighten a denom- 
ination of Christians who boast in their ministry some of 
the purest and brightest lights of this or any preceding 
age ? The reverend gentleman showed, nay acknowledged, 
that he had never investigated the subject, and still under- 
takes to give opinions in regard to it as if it were as famil- 
iar to him as " household words."* 

Dr. Butler undertakes to comment, in the most dispar- 
aging terms, on a communication purporting to come from 
Daniel Webster to myself and others through a writing 
medium. The communication will be found in the Ap- 
pendix to Judge Edmonds' book on " Spiritualism," with 
the explanations in regard to the medium and the circum- 
stances under which it was received. I pronounce that 
communication infinitely beyond the capacity of the me- 
dium, vastly beyond the capacity of those present, and far 
beyond the capacity of Webster himself in his best days 
on earth, because it contains a profundity and sublimity 

* " He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame 
unto him." — Prov. xviii. 13. " The heart of him that hath understanding 
seeketh knowledge; but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness." — Prov. 
xv. 14. 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

of thought beyond human conception ! And still this sub- 
lime communication was characterized by the reverend 
gentleman, in his discourse as delivered, and after quoting 
from it, as " miserable twaddle !" I will not attempt to 
characterize the reverend gentleman's discourse by such 
language as that, because it is below my sphere. But I will 
say, that it shows a want of capacity to comprehend the 
sublime truths of that communication that is perfectly 
astonishing — a communication that exhibits mind that 
would stand in comparison with his own as " Hyperion 
to a Satyr." 

The concluding advice of the reverend gentleman to his 
" friends and brethren,-' is worthy of a passing remark. 
He said, "I earnestly entreat you, under the persuasion 
that it is a crime denounced by God, not to allow your- 
selves either to act as mediums, or to be present where 
others are professing to act as mediums, or in any way to 
countenance this dangerous delusion." When I heard this 
it carried me back to the dark ages, when ignorance and 
superstition covered the world like a pall ; when the mind 
of man was enslaved by the dogmatism of priestly usurpa- 
tion ; when the soul of man — a spark of Divinity itself — 
was cramped and warped till it became the mere " coun- 
terfeit presentment" of that great and benevolent God in 
whose ima^e man was made. I could not realize that we 
were now advanced beyond the middle of the nineteenth 
century, but fancied that the car of Time had rolled back 
until we were again enveloped in that " blackness of dark- 
ness," from which I fondly hoped the world had emerged 
forever. 

A learned, and pious, and aged clergyman of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church, with a share of " common sense" 
not common to some of his brethren, once said to me, that 
he knew nothing of this subject ; but, if he did not investi- 
gate it, he would say nothing about it ; for, said he, if it be 
true, opposition can not stop it, and if it be not true, it 
will die of itself. Why, then, said he, shall we distract 



INTEODUCTION. 27 

our people and bring dissensions and divisions into the 
Church, and by our folly inflict wounds that can never be 
healed ? 

The spirit of this advice was the same as that of Gama- 
liel, a doctor of the law and president of the Sanhedrim, 
when the Jews were endeavoring to find cause to put 
Peter and the other Apostles to death. He said, " Eefrain 
from these men, and let them alone ; for if this counsel or 
this work be of men, it will come to naught ; but if it be 
of God, ye can not overthrow it, lest haply ye be found 
even to fight against God." Now these manifestations are 
either of men or of God. That they are of men, no one 
having a decent regard for his own reputation will pretend 
to assert. The day for the cry of imposture and delusion 
has gone by. That they are of God — that is, according to 
God's laws — no one can doubt who is familiar with the 
communications purporting to come from the spirit- world ; 
for they are not only in accordance with God's laws, but 
are made — as I have abundantly shown — in the same man- 
ner that similar manifestations were made, as recorded in 
the sacred Scriptures. That they are from spirits, both 
good and evil, is proof of their spiritual source ; for the 
same law that enables the good to communicate, enables 
the evil to communicate also. It may be asked, if they are 
from both good and evil spirits, how are we to distinguish 
the good from the evil ? I answer, by the rule laid down 
in the First Epistle of John iv. 1, 2, 3 : " Beloved, believe 
not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of 
God ; because many false prophets are gone out into the 
world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit 
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is 
of God ; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." If the spirits 
did not hold intercourse with men, why should this warn- 
ing be given and this rule be laid down by which to "try" 
them ; which warning and which rule were delivered to 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

mankind after Christ had gone to his Father, and were 
designed for all future time ? 

The following communication, purporting to come from 
the author of that Epistle, enforces the same doctrine. It 
was made to a select circle of the most intelligent and in- 
tellectual ladies and gentlemen — a circle composed of those 
described in the communication — and through a medium 
of the highest character and respectability, the wife of a 
Methodist clergyman. I took down the communication 
myself, letter by letter, as it was given through the tippings 
of the table. 

Lo an assembly of "wise men from the East and from the West, and the 
North and the South, lawyers and doctors, judges and governors, and divines, 
are met to try the spirits. Beloved, ye do well. Ye are instructed from the 
great Book of Books, even the Book of God, thus to proceed. Beloved, if all 
spirits were evil, or if all spirits were good, this trial would be useless. By 
their fruits ye shall know them. Beloved, can the leopard change his spots, 
or the Ethiopian his skin ? When the spirit leaves the earthly form for a 
spiritual, the spirit is the same, but in a new temple. My little children, 
ye have the privilege to make that new mansion an abode of happiness or 
misery. Beloved, ye have been truly instructed that every thought, word, and 
action, is registered in heaven, even in the house to which ye go. When ye 
meet the deeds done in the body ye will know them. They will cause you un- 
utterable bliss or unutterable woe. My little children, be instructed by one 
who loves you. Serve God with singleness of heart. Be a friend to the race 
for which Jesus died. Johit the Beloved. 

Tried by the above rule who can doubt the character of 
this spirit ? And where, in the whole range of the Old 
and Xew Testaments, can be found purer doctrine than 
that embodied in this communication ? I have received 
communications of the most exalted character, enough to 
fill volumes ; and still Dr. Butler, without investigation 
and without knowledge, objects to the spiritual source of 
the communications by reason of their low order. lie has 
not sought information from those who could show to him 
this high order of communications, and instruct him on the 
subject ; but he has picked up the lowest that have been 
given to the public, and put them forth as specimens of 
the productions of the spirit-world. He might as well 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

descend into the most degraded purlieus of Washington 
City, and repeat the language and sentiments he got there 
as specimens of good society, as to repeat this low order 
of communications as specimens of spiritual intercourse. 
The truth is, most of those who have received this high 
order of communications have been unwilling to give them 
to the world. They have seen the denunciations of others 
for avowing their faith in " Spiritualism," and they have 
had no disposition to subject themselves to the same or- 
deal. But the time is near at hand when no one will hesi- 
tate to avow his or her opinions on this subject. " Spirit- 
ualism" is making rapid advances in the highest classes of 
society, and its onward progress will soon render it fash- 
ionable, and then no human power can resist it ! 

Because the communications are both good and evil, 
and because they are from both good and evil spirits, it is 
no objection to the position that the manifestations are ac- 
cording to God's law ; for the law of communicating gov- 
erns both, and is established for wise purposes, even though 
the wisdom of man should not be able fully to comprehend 
it. It should not excite our distrust or wonder any more 
than the account that the Lord put a " lying spirit" in the 
mouth of four hundred prophets in the time of Ahab, to 
persuade him to go to battle for the purpose of his own 
destruction. 1 Kings xxii. 23. 

If, then, these manifestations are from God, and not from 
men ; in other words, if they are according to God's laws, 
and made by God's permission, how great is the responsi- 
bility of those who undertake to denounce them ; who un- 
dertake to set a limit to the power of the Almighty ; and 
to proclaim that there is neither the necessity nor the 
power for further manifestations to elucidate the truths of 
the Bible — truths about which mankind can not agree, and 
never will- agree, till further light is shed upon them ! 
This responsibility is great here, but it will be greater 
hereafter. And none will see it and feel it with such 
crushing weight as the clergy who have denounced it ; 



I 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

who have shut out the light from their people, and caused 
them to walk in darkness, when the brightness of these 
manifestations has been shining around them. Let them 
take heed to themselves. This warning is founded on com- 
munications from a high spiritual source. And let them 
rest assured that, though they may stay for a brief season 
the mighty torrent of " Spiritualism," which is covering 
the earth as the waters cover the sea, they will not be able 
to check it in the world to which they go, but will there 
be held to an awful accountability! If they had but a 
small share of practical common sense, they would inves- 
tigate it, and proclaim it from the pulpit as confirming the 
truths of the Bible, and as re-affirming the doctrines which 
Christ taught and practiced. Instead of attempting to 
resist it they would " take the tide at its flood,'' and en- 
deavor to " direct the fury of the storm." If they do not, 
they will find the foundations of their antagonistic creeds 
washed from under them, and swept away by the resistless 
tide which is now setting, 

" Like to the Pontick sea, 
Whose icy current and compulsive course 
Ne'er feels retiring ebb." 

They may as well attempt to stem the torrent of Niagara, 
and silence the thunders of the mighty cataract. The day 
for intimidation has gone by. Those liquid fires, whose 
terrors have been so long used, have been quenched by the 
pure waters of truth flowing from the fountain of Love ; 
and their lurid glare is lost in the brilliant light shed by 
the sun of righteousness which has risen with healing on 
its wings. 

Again, Paul says, Heb. i. 14, speaking of angels : " Are 
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for 
them who shall be heirs of salvation ?" From this it will 
be seen that, in some way, they are employed in adminis- 
tering to mankind. The mode of administering may be as 
various as the wants and necessities of man, but neverthe- 
less designed to promote his welfare.^ But, it may be said 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

that angels thus ministering to man are not disembodied 
human spirits ; that they are a distinct creation, and a dis- 
tinct order of beings from human spirits. Though not 
positively stated, this position may be inferred from Dr. 
Butler's discourse. I am aware that some commentators 
have endeavored to establish this doctrine, but have never 
been able to find any direct authority for it in, but have 
inferred it from, the Scriptures. On the contrary, others 
have endeavored to prove that an angel is the spirit of a 
just man made perfect. One of the ablest writers amongst 
the reverend clergy says : 

We have no other idea of an angel than that of the spirit of a just man 
made perfect. The notions that angels were created such ; that they existed 
prior to mankind, and were made a superior race, are rather the intimations 
of poetry than the teachings of revelation. The Scriptures frequently and 
forcibly show the existence of angels, hut it is nowhere said that such was 
their state by original creation ; nor is any thing written respecting them, 
which is not consistent with the idea that they are the spirits of just men 
made perfect, enjoying the immortality proper to their natures, and perform- 
ing the uses for which they had qualified themselves during their lifetime in 
the world. 

The author adds in a note as follows : 

Heb. xii. 23. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Con- 
sidered in the primeval state of holiness and wisdom, he was the highest object 
of the Divine creation, What object of creation can be higher than that which 
is an image and likeness of the Highest ? The Scriptures represent angels to 
be glorified men; and they frequently speak of them as men. The three 
angels who appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, are called men, 
Gen. xviii. 2, xix. 5 ; and the angel with whom Jacob wrestled is called a 
man, xxxii. 24. The angel who appeared to the wife of Manoah is called the 
man of God, Judges xiii. 6, 10, 11. The angel Gabriel, sent to Daniel, is 
called the man Gabriel, Dan. ix. 21. The angels who were seen by the 
woman at the Lord's sepulcher, are said to be two men, Luke xxiv. 4. The 
angel whom John was about to worship said, " See thou do it not ; for I am thy 
fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets," Rev. xxii. 9. And the 
measure of the wall of the holy city is said to have been "the measure of a 
man, that is of the angel," Rev. xxi. 17. It has been said, to avoid the force 
of these facts, that angels only assume the forms of men, to be seen as such ; 
but where in the Scriptures is there anything said respecting such assump- 
tions ? Saints are thought to be the proper designation of men in heaven, and 
not angels. But the Scriptures do not teach ns this. Saints are holy per- 
sons, and these, of course, exist in heaven ; but they must, as such, have pre- 
viously existed in the world. Aaron is called the saint of the Lord Psalm 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

cvi. 16 ; and again it is written, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the 
death of his saints," cxvi. 15. Saint is most properly the designation of a 
holy man on earth ; but angel is the name of a holy man in heaven. 

!Now, whatever Dr. Butler, or any other reverend gentle- 
man, may think of this, one thing is certain, namely, that 
the angel who communicated with John was nothing more 
nor less than a disembodied human spirit — one of the old 
prophets — the spirit of a just man made perfect — for he 
said, "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the 
prophets." An angel, in the original Greek and Hebrew 
languages, means a messenger. Hence, this disembodied 
human spirit, this spirit of a just man made perfect, is the 
angel or messenger of God to reveal his w T ill to man. If, 
then, it was a disembodied human spirit that delivered to 
John, many years after Christ had ascended, and through 
him to the world, the most important revelation that God 
ever made to man, may we not conclude that further reve- 
lations may be made, and that all other angels spoken of 
in the Scriptures are also disembodied human spirits, the 
spirits of just men made perfect? If this conclusion be 
correct, then the Scriptures are full of authority for the 
spiritual intercourse for which we contend. If this be de- 
nied, there is still abundant proof in the Scriptures left to 
fully establish that intercourse. 

The belief that departed human spirits revisit the earth, 
that they attend us, and impress us for our good, and 
guard us from accident and danger, is as old and as uni- 
versal as the world. On this subject I can not forbear to 
give an extract from a letter of a highly intelligent gentle- 
man and classical scholar connected with one of our South- 
ern colleges — a gentleman who had not investigated the 
subject, but was desirous of information in relation to it: 

The abusive and contemptuous manner in "which the whole subject is treated 
by those who, by their own confessions, have not in the smallest degree inves- 
tigated the matter, is to my mind no evidence of its unreality. And it seems 
to me that the faith of men of acknowledged ability and high standing in 
manifestations so extraordinary and unprecedented, can not but have some- 
what that is reasonable for its foundation. Besides, the belief in communica- 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

tlons of some sort between the dead and the living is as old and universal as 
the world. And to such universal conviction we confidently appeal in the 
discussion of other problems of mans nature. Why, then, should we ignore 
these convictions, when a problem such as the " Spiritualists" put before us is 
presented ? 

Amongst the numerous authorities for this belief, I will 
cite a few. 

E. K. Cralle, the able editor of Calhoun's "Works, says : 

The opinion that men are acted upon and influenced by spiritual beings, 
whether called angels, spirits, demons, or devils, is coeval with the earliest 
records of our race, and coextensive with all human society. There never was 
a period when it did not prevail, nor a people that did not entertain it. The 
theological systems of every nation on the globe with which we have any 
acquaintance give the doctrine a prominent place. The Jewish, Egyptian, In- 
dian, Persian, Chaldean, Grecian, and Koman records attest the fact. The 
ancient philosophers — men who not only impressed themselves on the age in 
which they lived, but the traces of whose deep wisdom are not yet entirely 
effaced — universally admitted and inculcated the doctrine, not excepting even 
the founders of what are called atheistical sects. Thales, the earliest amongst 
the Grecian philosophers, according to Cicero, Plutarch, Stobceus, and the 
Christian philosopher, Athenagoras, taught that the souls of men after death 
were spiritual substances, distinguished into good and evil, and that they 
actecfc directly and powerfully on men during their life in this world. The 
same doctrine was taught by the Egyptian priests before the time of Thales, 
as we are told by Jamblicus and others ; and such was the theory of Pytha- 
goras and Plato, as we learn from Plutarch, Cicero, Psellus, and Fabricius. 
Zeno and his followers maintained the same doctrine with a clearness and 
force hardly credible when we consider the age in which they lived. 

Luthek, the great Reformer, maintained fully and openly 
the doctrine of spiritual intercourse and the guardianship 
of angels. 

President Dwight gave full credence to the agency of 
spirits, and says that 

Angels (or spirits) should communicate thoughts, either good or evil, to 
mankind is originally no more improbable than that we should communicate 
them to each other. We do this daily and hourly in many ways which are 
familiar to us by experience, but which were originally unimaginable by our- 
selves, and probably by any other finite beings. We show our thoughts to 
each other by words, tones, gestures, silence, hieroglyphics, pictures, letters, 
and many other things. All these, antecedent to our experience of them, 
were hidden in absolute darkness from our conception. If all mankind had 
been born dumb, no man would have entertained a single thought concerning 
the communications of ideas by speech. The conveyance- of thoughts by looks 
also, if never experienced by us, would have been necessarily deemed myste- 

3 



34: INTRODUCTION. 

rious and impossible. Yet very many thoughts are thus conveyed by every 
person living, and with very great force, and frequently with very great pre- 
cision. Nay, the countenance often discloses the whole character at once. 

Dr. Johnson, one of the most enlightened and most cele- 
brated men of his own or of any age, maintained the same 
belief. He observed : 

That the idea of the spirits of the deceased revisiting the scenes on earth, 
where in the fiesh they had either suffered or rejoiced, seems to have been 
grafted in the human mind by the Creator. 

And an able writer adds : 

For the obvious salutary purpose of keeping alive in it the belief of a, future 
state; the conviction that we are connected with the spiritual world; the 
assurance that the great compound man shall not " all die," but that his bet- 
ter and essential part, that soul which distinguishes him from " the beasts 
that perish," preserved from the ruin that shatters his material frame still — 

" Shall flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt amid the war of elements, 
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds." 

If, then, it be allowed that such a notion, for such a reasonable final cause 
make a part of man's original constitution, it seems to be a fair inference that 
this conception would be nourished and supported by occasional allowed 
appearances of the disembodied shade, or in permitted i?npressions upon the 
imagination of such appearances ; and that this is the actual fact, we have all 
the evidence that the mind in a proper state of conviction can desire — that is, 
exercising its reasoning faculty, but sensible at the same time of the narrow 
limits by which that reason is bounded and the imperfection in which it is en- 
joyed. We have the concurring accounts of all nations and ages of the world 
for the authentication of the fact ; we have the solemn and dispassionate asser- 
tions of the wise and good to corroborate it ; we have the records of history 
and the declarations of Scripture to confirm it. 

The following extract from the pen of Bishop Potter, 
of Pennsylvania, for whose great talent and exalted piety 
I entertain the most profound respect, goes to establish the 
same doctrine : 

There is another moral and religious use of Life as manifested in its mi- 
nutest forms. It shuts us up toward a more spiritual tone of thinking — 
toward faith in the invisible and supersensual. In respect to whatever lies 
beyond the cognizance of sense, we are prone now to skepticism, now to super- 
stition. Let us descend by the aid of the microscope down one and another 
rank of organized beings, receding farther and farther from magnitudes visi- 
ble to our organs or appreciable to our intellects — and at every step the par- 
tition wall between the material and immaterial seems to grow thinner. We 
are prepared for a transition to a world where matter is not, and spirit-forms, 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

imperceptible to moral sense, shall throng about us. Time was when all the 
countless multitudes of microscopic forms, that now animate the waters or 
float on every breeze, were to man as though they had no being. They were 
working for him in many ways — supplying food to the fish on which he fed — 
purifying as well as animating the water he drank— removing from the air he 
breathed the taint, perhaps, of many a pestilence. Other forms there were, 
perchance, which penetrating to his lungs or viscera, became the sources of 
disease and death. Here, then, were innumerable ministers of good or ill 
about him wherever he went — ever busy for his weal or woe — of whom for 
ages he knew not, thought not ; of whom he thinks but little now because they 
do not press on his grosser senses. Should not this fact suggest to us how 
much like truth are the revelations of Scripture, in respect to the good and 
bad angels that are represented as abroad amongst men — those legions of spir- 
its that are flying as God's ministers of mercy to his heirs of salvation, or as 
the devil's emissaries in the work of death to souls ? 

" Think not," says Milton, " though man were none, 
That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise ; 
Millions of spiritual beings walk: the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep." 

The Rev. Dr. ISTott, the venerable and distinguished 
President of Union College, maintains the same doctrine. 
At the recent College Commencement on the Fiftieth An- 
niversary of his Presidency, in an address to the Alumni 
of the College, he holds the following language : 

In the next Semi-Centennial Anniversary, you, or some of you, may be 
present, with tremulous voices, tottering steps — as the speaker that now ad- 
dresses you, regarded with interest — with melancholy interest, as ruins al- 
ways are. With some it may be so, but the rest of you, where will you be ? 
Where the dead are, and so forgotten ! Who now thinks of Smith, of Edwards, 
and of Maxcy ? Tombs have been passed by to-day in yonder cemetery which 
lines the path that leads into this house — tombs of such as these — and who 
paused to look at them ? But, though the dead be forgotten by the livings 
the living will not be forgotten by the dead. The dead may be present, see- 
ing though unseen, sent back to earth on some errand of mercy ; or, per- 
haps, the guardian angels of living ones left behind. 

These are the sentiments of one whose head is silvered 
o'er by the frosts of more than four-score winters, but 
whose mental vigor is that of the maturity of manhood — 
of one pre-eminent throughout the range of science and 
the arts — of one equally distinguished in the ancient classics 
and in modern literature — of one whose eloquence in the 
pulpit has never been surpassed — of one, the example of 
whose pure and unblemished life has been the star which 



36 INTRODUCTION. 

has guided many to the haven of eternal rest — of one pro- 
foundly versed in the theology of the Bible, as well as in 
the theology of Nature — of one who maintains that science 
and religion are not at war, though by many modern di- 
vines falsely supposed to be — of one who seeks truth wher- 
ever it is to be found, and proclaims to the world that 
" Truth is no less truth when taught by the sunbeams 
above, or the fossiliferous rocks below, than when in- 
scribed on parchment or chiseled in marble" — and, above 
all, of one more deeply read in the Bible, and in all that 
relates to the never-ending future of man, than any whose 
age and experience, and whose talent and study have not 
equaled his own. And yet it is in opposition to such 
opinions from such a source that we find these modern 
sciolists of the pulpit arrayed ! 

It would seem unnecessary to add to the above authori- 
ties ; but I can not omit to refer to the Rev. John Wesley, 
the founder of Methodism, who was familiar with "Spirit- 
ual Manifestations" in his day, and fully maintained the 
doctrine of spiritual intercourse. The following extract 
from his sermon on Heb. i. 14, "Are they not all minister- 
mg spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall he 
heirs of salvation f" shows his views of their mode of min- 
istering — which mode, after the lapse of nearly a century, 
is fully confirmed by these modern " Spiritual Manifesta- 
tions." He says: 

May they not also minister to us with respect to our bodies in a thousand 
ways, which we do not understand ? They may prevent our falling into 
many dangers which we are not sensible of, and may deliver us out of many 
others, though we know not whence our deliverance comes. How many times 
have we been strangely and unaccountably preserved in sudden and dangerous 
falls ? And it is well if we did not impute that preservation to chance, or to 
our own wisdom or strength. No so : God, perhaps, gave his angels charge 
over us, and in their hands they bore us up. Indeed, men of the world will al- 
ways impute such deliverances to accidents or second causes. To these possi- 
bly some of them might have imputed Daniel's preservation in the lion's den. 
But himself ascribes it to the true cause : " My God hath sent his angel, and 
hath shut the mouths of the lions." — Dan. vi. 22. 

When a violent disease, supposed incurable, is totally and suddenly re- 
moved, it is by no means improbable that this is effected by the ministry of an 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

angel. And perhaps it is owing to the same cause that a remedy is unac- 
countably suggested, either to the sick person, or some one attending upon 
him, by which he is entirely cured. 

It seems, what are usually called divine dreams, may be frequently ascribed 
to angels. "We have a remarkable instance of this kind related by one who will 
hardly be called an enthusiast, for he was a heathen, a philosopher, and an 
empsror : I mean Marcus Antoninus. " In his meditations, he solemnly 
thanks God for revealing to him when he was at Cajeta, in a dream, what to- 
tally cured the bloody flux, which none of his physicians were able to heal." 
And why may we not suppose that God gave him this notice by the ministry 
of an angel ? 

And how often does God deliver us from evil men by the ministry of his an- 
gels ? overturning whatever their rage, or malice, or subtilty had plotted against 
us ? These are about their bed, and about their path, and privy to all their 
dark designs ; and many of them undoubtedly they brought to naught by 
means of that we think not of. Sometimes they are just ripe for execution ; 
and this they can do by a thousand means that we are not aware of. They can 
check them in their mad career by bereaving them of courage or strength ; 
by striking faintness through their 'loins, or turning their wisdom into foolish- 
ness. Sometimes they bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and show 
us the traps that are laid for our feet. In these and various other ways, they 
hew the snares of the ungodly in pieces. 

Mr. "Wesley's views were also adopted and ably sus- 
tained by the pious Mrs. Mary Fletcher, widow of the 
Rev. John Fletcher. Any one interested in this subject 
would be instructed and enlightened by a perusal of her 
views as contained in her Life by Henry Moore. 

In this connection, too, and in confirmation of all I have 
said, I refer with pleasure to the views of a lady distin- 
guished alike for her piety and literature, "On the Minis- 
tration of Departed Spirits in this World." I mean Mrs. 
Harriet Beecher Stowe. (See Appendix B.) 

I also add an extract from a discourse preached by the 
Rev. J. B. Ferguson, of Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Ferguson 
is a minister of an orthodox church. Notwithstanding this 
frank avowal of his belief in " Spiritualism," his congre- 
gation, with great unanimity, retained him as their pastor. 
(See Appendix C.) 

It appears, then, that this was the belief of the ancient 
world before the time of Christ, and has been the belief of 
all Christian denominations since. We are taught it in 



38 INTRODUCTION. 

the nursery ; we are taught it in the churches ; our hymn- 
books are full of it ; and our voices ascend in anthems 
of praise to the great Giver of all good for this manifesta- 
tion of his goodness to the children of men. Nay, the 
inspirations of the poet everywhere teach it to us. Take 
the following from Young's " Night Thoughts :" 

Smitten friends 
Are angels sent on errands full of love ; 
For us they languish, and for us they die : 
And shall they languish, shall they die in vain ? 
Ungrateful, shall we grieve their hovering shades 
Which wait the revolution in our hearts ? 
Shall we disdain their silent, soft address — 
Their posthumous advice, and pious prayer ? 
Senseless as herds that graze their hallow'd graves, 
Tread under foot their agonies and groans ; 

Frustrate their anguish, and destroy their deaths ? 

******* 

A good man, and an angel ! these between, 
How thin the barrier ! What divides their fate ? 
Perhaps a moment, or perhaps a year ; 
Or, if an age, it is a moment still. 

Head, also, the lovely and elevating sentiments of the 
pure and gifted Mrs. Hemans, which seem to be a fore- 
taste of the angelic communications which have been 
received from her in the spirit-world : 

Hast thou been told that from the viewless bourne, 
The dark way never hath allow'd return ? 
That all which tears can move with life is fled — 
That earthly love is powerless on the dead ? 
Believe it not. * * * * 

* Before me there, 

He, the departed, stood ! Ay, face to face, 
So near, yet how far! his form, his mien, 
Gave to remembrance back each burning trace. 

And never till these " Spiritual Manifestations" were 
presented have we found men bold enough to deny the 
faith of their fathers, the belief of their churches, and the 
universal belief of the Christian world. But even now 
their number is comparatively few ; and the time is not 
distant when even those few will confess in sorrow and in 



IXTEODUCTION. 39 

shame the folly of their denunciations. The time will 
come " when Christianity, which, like the Prodigal son, 
has for centuries wandered from its Father's house, and fed 
on husks which the swine refused, will again return to its 
Father's mansion. For fifteen hundred years and more it 
made the distance between itself and the Father's house 
greater and greater. Since that time it has been going 
back — been seeking its Father's house ; and we hope that 
soon, very soon, the Church will again occupy the stand 
which Christ Himself ascribed to it, and be able to pro- 
gress from that point. Spirituality is the last and greatest 
step that has been made ;" and when it shall be received 
and acknowledged by the Church and the world, then will 
have come the consummation of the Christian's hopes ; 
then will have arrived " The Golden Age" of the poet : 

When the glad slave shall lay down 
His "broken chain — the tyrant lord his crown — 
The priest his book — the conqueror his wreath : — 
When, from the lips of truth, one mighty breath 
Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze 
The whole dark pile of human mockeries ; 
Then shall the reign of mind commence on earth : 
And, starting fresh, as from a second birth, 
Man, in the sunshine of the world's new spring. 
Shall walk transparent like some holy thing. 

Perhaps we ought not to be surprised at these denuncia- 
tions and persecutions from all quarters, " Turk as well as 
Christian." It is no more than what has been handed 
down to us in the history of the world. And were it not 
that we are so far advanced in the nineteenth century, and 
have seen such rapid progress in science and the arts, we 
should not wonder at them at all. Galileo was persecuted 
by the Church till he was compelled to renounce the 
theory that the earth revolved on its axis, although, as he 
said, it would continue to turn round notwithstanding. 
Columbus was ridiculed for his notions of the existence of 
a Western Continent ; and still the Hew World was dis- 
covered. The art of printing was denounced as the work 
of the devil, and from what we have seen of its operations 



40 



INTEODUCTION. 



in these latter days, we are not surprised that such a belief 
should have prevailed to a greater or less extent ; although, 
properly conducted, the press would be all that it has been 
described by an elegant writer : " By the powerful ener- 
gies of the press information is diffused on every side, and 
the world has become a vast whispering gallery, and the 
echoing notes of the human intellect now vibrate through 
its eternal dome." Fulton was ridiculed beyond measure 
in his first attempt to navigate the Hudson by steam ; and 
now steam navigation has spread throughout the world ; 
and if it could be withdrawn commerce would be almost 
annihilated. The locomotive, too, for its tardy movements 
was also ridiculed and denounced on its first introduction ; 
and now it has attained a " velocity that scarcely lags be- 
hind the celerity of thought !" The electric telegraph was 
received with as much distrust and doubt as " Spiritual- 
ism" at the present day. And if Professor Morse had been 
a man of large means, and had had some good friends de- 
sirous of getting possession of his property, they would 
have either got out a commission of lunacy for him, or, 
like the case of a certain Spiritualist, would have hurried 
him off to a lunatic asylum without a commission ! For- 
tunately, at that time, the learned professor, like most of 
the Spiritualists of the present day, was not burdened with 
a superabundance of this world's goods, and was, there- 
fore, left to perfect his invention, by which he has been 
enabled to " conquer time and space." "When Harvey dis- 
covered the circulation of the blood, he was denounced 
and ridiculed as other great pioneers in art and science 
had been before him. The same might be said of Mesmer, 
Gall, and Spurzheim, who have shed so much light on 
phrenology and other kindred subjects. The following ar- 
ticle from the Scottish JBeview, headed " P>lind Bigotry," 
sums up the whole matter far better than any thing I can 
say ; I therefore introduce it : 

The establishment of the Royal Society was opposed because it was asserted 
that " experimental philosophy was subversive of the Christian faith/' and. 



INTRODUCTION. 41 

the readers of D'Israeli will remember the telescope and microscope were stig- 
matized as " atheistical inventions which perverted our organ of sight, and 
made every thing appear in a false light." What ridicule and incredulity, 
what persevering opposition, greeted Jenner when he commenced the practice 
of vaccination ! So late as 1806 the Anti- Vaccination Society denounced the 
discovery as " the cruel, despotic tyranny of forcing cow-pox misery on the 
innocent babes of the poor — a gross violation of religion, morality, law, and 
humanity." Learned men gravely printed statements that vaccinated chil- 
dren became " ox-faced," that abscesses broke out to " indicate sprouting 
horns," that the countenance was gradually " transmuted into the visage of a 
cow, the voice into the bellowing of bulls" — -that the character underwent 
" strange mutations from quadripedan sympathy." The influence of religion 
was called in to strengthen the prejudices of ignorance, and the operation was 
denounced from the pulpit as " diabolical," as a " tempting of God's provi- 
dence, and therefore a heinous crime," as " an invention of Satan," a " daring 
and profane violation of our holy religion," a " wresting out of the hands of the 
Almighty the divine dispensation of providence, and its abettors were charged 
with sorcery and atheism." When fanners were first introduced to assist in 
winnowing corn from the chaff by producing artificial currents of air, it was 
argued that " winds were raised by God alone, and it was irreligious in man 
to attempt to raise wind for himself and by efforts of his own." One Scottish 
clergyman actually refused the holy communion to those of his parishioners 
who thus irreverently raised the " devil's wind." Few of the readers of " Old 
Mortality" will forget honest Mause Headrigg's indignation when it was pro- 
posed that her " son Cuddie should work in the barn wi' a new-fangled ma- 
chine for dighting the corn frae the chaff, thus impiously thwarting the will 
of Divine Providence, by raising wind for your leddyship's ain particular use 
by human art, instead of soliciting it by prayer, or waiting patiently for 
whatever dispensation of wind Providence was pleased to send upon the sheel- 
ing hill." A route has just been successfully opened by Panama between the 
Atlantic and Pacific. In 1588 a priest named Acosta wrote respecting a pro- 
posal then made for this very undertaking, that it was his opinion that " hu- 
man power should not be allowed to cut through, the strong and impenetrable 
bounds which God has put between the two oceans, of mountains andiron 
rocks, which can stand the fury of the raging seas. And, if it were possible, 
it would appear to me very just that we should fear the vengeance of Heaven 
for attempting to improve that which the Creator in His almighty will and 
providence has ordained from the creation of the world." When forks were 
first introduced into England, some preachers denounced their use " as an in- 
sult on Providence, not to touch our meat with our fingers." Many worthy 
people had great scruples about the emancipation of the negroes, because they 
were the descendants of Ham, on whom the curse of perpetual slavery had 
been pronounced. Many others plead against the measure for the emancipa- 
tion of the Jews, that the bill is a direct attempt to controvert the will and 
word of God, and to revoke his sentence on the chosen but rebellious people. 

These are specimens of the ignorance, bigotry, supers ti- 



42 INTRODUCTION. 

tion, ridicule, folly, denunciation, and persecution, which 
have characterized past ages, and the darkness of which even 
the light of the present age has not yet been able fully to 
dispel. In addition to the ridicule and denunciation which 
" Spiritualism" has received from the Pulpit and the Press, 
gentlemen of high civil positions have not deemed it be- 
neath their dignity to unite in this modern crusade. They 
have even gone out of their way to attack it, notwithstand- 
ing they had the authority of names as elevated and as 
responsible as their own for the truth of the manifestations. 
The facts, on such testimony, they could not doubt, and, 
whether spiritual or philosophical, were equally deserving 
their candid consideration. But they had not the moral 
courage to investigate the subject, and preferred to float 
with, rather than stem, the current of public prejudice and 
ecclesiastical bigotry. I could refer to several of this class 
of denunciators ; but I will on this occasion only allude to 
one, namely, the Hon. James Shields, of the United States 
Senate. My views in regard to the course of this gentle- 
man will more fully appear in Appendix D. 

To account for these extraordinary phenomena, theories 
in rapid succession have been introduced, and have been 
as rapidly exploded, e. g., the toe and knee-joint theory of 
the Buffalo doctors ; the galvanic battery of Professor An- 
derson ; the "nervous principle" of the author of "To 
Daimonion ;" the " vital electricity" of the facetious author 
of "The Eappers;" the machinery of Professor Page, con- 
cealed about the person of the medium, and working under 
the protection of the drapery of her dress, so "that a very 
distinct motion of the dress was visible about the right 
hypogastric region." This learned professor very gravely 
concludes that the " ra/ppin<f* can not be produced in 
" Bloomer costume," or "be performed by men, or in male 
attire." Now every one familiar with these manifestations 
knows that the "rapping" is produced through men and 
boys, as mediums, in male attire, as well as through fe- 
males in the ordinary dress of the sex. And yet a gentle- 



INTRODUCTION. 43 

man with pretensions to science, after two visits only to a 
rapping medium, comes to this sage conclusion ! Next 
comes the theory of Professor Faraday of world-renowned 
fame, that the moving of the table is by the unconscious 
force of the medium, when there are thousands of witnesses 
to the fact of the movement of tables, where neither a me- 
dium nor any other person was near them ! The theory of 
Dr. Pogers is even more marvelous than the spiritual 
theory itself. It is very difficult to gather from his work 
what his real theory is ; and lest I might misapprehend it, 
I quote from one of his coadjutors as follows: 

Mr. Rogers credits the existence of a newly- discovered physical agent, 
" distinct from electricity, but closely allied with animal magnetism," and 
which is identical with the od or odylic force of Baron Reichenbach. This 
force can be traced in two distinct forms of operation ; one is totally independ- 
ent of a presiding intelligence — the other exhibits the phenomena of intelli- 
gence ruling and guiding it. It thus becomes prevision — intelligent clairvoy- 
ance — acts at a distance through matter and space, and thus produces all the 
phenomena that have been attributed to direct spiritual agency. 

This theory is founded principally on the case of Ange- 
lique Cottin, which is cited from thirty to forty times in 
some twenty-two chapters of the book. The facts in this 
case turn out to be no facts at all, according to the report 
of the commission appointed to investigate them by the 
French Academy of Sciences, of which M. Arago was 
President. The report concludes as follows : 

After having weighed all these circumstances, the Commission is of opinion 
that the communications transmitted to the Academy on the subject of Mdlle. 
Angelique Cottin ought to be considered as not having happened. 

The Pev. Charles Beecher says that the argument of Dr. 
Pogers " is precisely the argument of avowed Material- 
ists" — that it belongs to the same school with Priestley, 
Cooper, and others, and adds: "Nor could the disciples 
of the latter school in any way more effectually promote 
their ends than by a republication of Dr. Pogers' book, 
condensed, with Dr. Cooper's tracts on Materialism ap- 
pended." Thus it will be seen that this theory leads 
directly to Materialism, to the undermining and subversion 



44: INTRODUCTION. 

of the very foundations of Christianity. And yet I have 
known reverend gentlemen, in their zeal against "Spirit- 
ualism," take Dr. Rogers' book as a sort of vade mecum, 
and exhibit it to overthrow "Spiritualism," whilst, at the 
same time, it was sapping the very foundation of the reli- 
gion they professed. The following lucid exposition of his 
theory is from Dr. Rogers himself, as reported in a Boston 
paper : 

He said that he thought the revelations were not spiritual, but a cerebral 
automatic movement, depending for its development upon the idiosyncratic 
temperament of each individual, inspired through the spinal centers by a mun- 
dane process of electrized vitality, acting upon every molecule of the system ! 

Dr. Dods explains the " Spiritual Manifestations" on the 
principles of what he calls the voluntary and involuntary 
powers of the mind ; but with great frankness says, that if 
certain facts are true, " then I must candidly confess that I 
have no philosophy to reach the case" Now the class of 
facts to which he alludes is within my own knowledge, and 
the knowledge of hundreds, nay, thousands, of those who 
have had ample opportunity to investigate the subject. 

Most of those who maintain the above theories discard 
electricity and magnetism as the agents to produce the 
manifestations ; whilst others still contend for that agency 
as the only means of accounting for them. As long as 
this idea prevailed, the movement of tables was the prin- 
cipal amusement at all large and fashionable parties. But 
this amusement ceased as soon as it was contended that 
these agents did not enter into those physical manifesta- 
tions, but that they were from a spiritual source. That 
they are not produced by electricity or magnetism, is evi- 
dent to every one conversant with those elements. These, 
or some other natural laws, may be the medium by which 
the manifestations are made, but there must be an intelli- 
gence to direct the force thus applied, which can only be 
accounted for on the spiritual theory ; and more especially 
when intelligent communications are received through the 
rappings or tippings of the table. These communications 



INTRODUCTION. 45 

do not come from the mind of the medium nor from the 
mind of any one present, for they are frequently in answer 
to mental questions, the answers to which are neither 
known to the medium nor to the interrogator, but their 
truth is ascertained afterward. These natural laws may be 
the means of conveying this intelligence to us, but they 
can not make it. By way of illustration, a friend in Hew 
York wishes to communicate with me at Washington 
through the electric telegraph. He writes his communi- 
cation — hands it to the operator — the electric fluid brings 
it to me. Electricity, therefore, is the medium of commu- 
nication. But does electricity make the communication ? 
Certainly- not ; that can only come from mind — in this in- 
stance the mind of my friend in Xew York. What, then, 
is the source of this intelligence f I answer it is mind. 
"What are the sources of mind? They are two — mind in 
the body, and mind out of the body. If, then, it can be 
shown that these intelligent communications are not from 
mind in the body, they must, of course, come from mind 
out of the body — in other words, from a spiritual source. 
This is a perfect syllogism, and the conclusion from the 
premises can not be resisted. That they do not come from 
mind in the body is evident to every one familiar with the 
subject, and from the fact that communications are often 
received infinitely above the capacity of the medium, and 
vastly beyond the capacity of any one present or absent, 
because they are above human thought ! But it is often 
said, that in due time there will be some natural law dis- 
covered which will account for the manifestations. I an- 
swer, there is no natural law, discovered or undiscovered, 
that can make intelligence. The time may come when we 
shall better understand how those laws are the medium of 
conveying that intelligence to us ; but the time will never 
come when any natural law, developed or undeveloped, 
can make intelligence. The source of this intelligence, 
therefore, is from mind out of the body ; in other words, 
from a spiritual source. Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, and 



46 INTRODUCTION. 

Psychology are all " Spiritual Manifestations." They 
show the operation of a spirit in the body upon another 
spirit in the body ; in other words, the operation of mind 
upon mind, and the power of the spirit to leave the body 
and again return to its fleshly tabernacle. 

" Mind's command o'er mind, 
Spirit's o'er spirit, is the clear effect 
And natural action of an inward gift, 
Given of God, whereby the incarnate soul 
Hath power to pass free out of earth and death 
To immortality and Heaven, and mate 
With beings of a kind, condition, lot, 
All diverse from its own." 

If, then, the psychologist, being more positive, can op- 
erate on one more negative, so as to influence and control 
his action, how much more can a spirit out of the body, 
who has " shuffled off this mortal coil," operate on a spirit 
in the body ? 

In every instance where science has attempted to ex- 
plain these extraordinary phenomena it has signally failed. 
And although scientific men and scientific bodies have 
been invited, nay challenged, to investigate them, they 
have pusillanimously and ignobly shrunk from the task. 
They have not been backward to unite in the denuncia- 
tions of them, but they have been extremely cautious how 
they investigated them, lest conviction should follow in- 
vestigation. Not long since, the attention of the American 
Scientific Association, then sitting at the Smithsonian In- 
stitution, in the city of Washington, was invited to this 
subject. That learned body was cautioned by a learned 
professor of that institution not to meddle with it, and on 
his motion the subject was laid on the table — yes, laid on 
the table on the motion of a professor of an institution in- 
tended by its liberal founder "for the increase and diffu- 
sion of knowledge among men !" And this was the mode 
by which knowledge on this important subject was to be 
increased and diffused ! How mortifying, how humiliating, 
in this progressive age, to see bigotry and science going 



INTRODUCTION. 47 

hand in hand to prevent the spread of that light which 
these extraordinary manifestations are destined to shed 
upon the world ! 

There has not been a single instance where scientific 
men have thoroughly investigated this subject, that they 
have not come to the conclusion that these manifestations 
establish beyond question or cavil the fact of spiritual in- 
tercourse. In this connection it gives me pleasure to 
mention the names of Professor Hare, of Philadelphia, 
and Major G. "W*. Kaines, of the U. S. A. The former 
ranks amongst the most eminent of men of science, and 
the latter a graduate, and for a time assistant professor at 
the Military Academy at "West Point, is distinguished as 
one of the most accomplished electricians of the age. 
These gentlemen, with strong and decided prepossessions 
against the spiritual source of the manifestations, com- 
menced their investigations, and, against their precon- 
ceived opinions, were drawn, step by step, to the irresisti- 
ble conclusion that disembodied human spirits do com- 
municate with men. Here is an example worthy to be 
imitated by those votaries of science who have not the 
moral courage to be the bold and worthy pioneers in such 
a cause, but who may, perhaps, summon sufficient resolu- 
tion to follow the lead of these undaunted champions of 
truth and philosophic investigation. 

I have proven, beyond doubt or cavil, that the belief is 
as old and as universal as the world, and that it is, and al- 
ways has been, the belief of all Christian denominations 
that the spirits of the departed do revisit the earth — that 
they attend us and impress for our good. If we believe 
this, and if all Christendom believes it, then, I ask, what is 
the objection to believing that there is now a mode discov- 
ered by which departed spirits may communicate more 
directly with us ? None in the world, provided the facts 
justify that belief. If the communication by impression is 
for our good, then certainly a direct communication is still 
more for our ^ood. There is nothing in it unreasonable or 



48 INTEODUCTION. 

unpliilosophical. If we receive the former, our reason tells 
us we must receive the latter. If we reject the latter, our 
reason also tells us we must reject the former. Do the facts, 
then, justify the belief? I could give the evidence of thou- 
sands to prove my position, and whose testimony would 
present phenomena even more astounding than any I have 
seen. I intend, however, to confine myself to manifesta- 
tions I have witnessed, knowing them to be amply suffi- 
cient to establish my position — thus relying upon my own 
personal observation and experience as equally satisfac- 
tory to myself, and probably more satisfactory to others. 

Of impressions which we receive, every one's own indi- 
vidual experience will bear me out in what I say. How 
often has it happened to almost every body that he or she 
has been impressed to do or not to do, to go or not to go, 
and by obeying that impression has been saved from acci- 
dent or danger ? I could cite abundant authorities in 
proof of this, but I will only relate one instance in regard 
to myself. I was on board the war-steamer Princeton, in 
the Potomac Biver, in the year 1844, when the dreadful 
disaster occurred by the bursting of the " big gun," which 
sacrificed the lives of several of our most distinguished 
citizens. A large party of ladies and gentlemen had been 
invited by Com. Stockton, the distinguished commander 
of the Princeton, to take a trip down the Potomac to wit- 
ness the movements of the steamer, as well as the firing of 
the gun called the "Peace-maker," a gun of wrought iron, 
of immense weight and caliber. I had under my charge 
two ladies. It was announced that the gun would fire 
three times. When they were preparing for the first fire, 
I took my position at the breech of the gun. The vessel 
being in motion, the smoke, after firing, was immediately 
left behind, and in my position I could take the range of 
the shot of immense weight as it gracefully bounded over 
the water. I took this position at each fire. After dinner 
I went with the ladies on deck at the stern of the vessel, 
and soon discovered the gun was again being loaded. I 



INTRODUCTION. 49 

immediately went to the gun at the bow of the vessel, and 
learning that the commodore, and the President and his 
cabinet, and other gentlemen were momentarily expected 
up to witness the last fire, I determined to remain, and 
took my position as before. I waited a minute or two, 
and was suddenly impressed to leave the gun — why, I 
could not tell ; I had no fear of the gun, for I supposed a 
wrought-iron gun could not burst. Yet, by an irresistible 
impulse, I was compelled to leave the gun. I went to the 
stern of the vessel, and was told the ladies had just gone 
below. I went down into the cabin, and immediately 
heard the report of the gun; and in a moment came the 
news that two members of the cabinet and three other 
distinguished gentlemen had been instantly killed by the 
bursting of the gun. I rushed on deck, saw the lifeless 
and mangled bodies, and found that the gun had burst 
at the very spot where I had stood at the three former 
fires, and where, if I had remained at the fourth fire, I 
should have been perfectly demolished ! Here was a spir- 
itual impression which I could not resist, and by obeying 
which my life was saved. It is not for me to say why my 
life was saved and others sacrificed. We can not fathom 
the mysterious ways of Providence, but we can derive 
benefit from the manifestations thus placed before us. 

Here is a signal case of impression. I will now show 
that the manifestations justify the belief in direct commu- 
nications : 

First, Physical Manifestations, such as the moving of 
Tables and other ponderable Bodies. For this class, see 
Appendix E. Here were tables moved without any one 
touching them or being near them ; the table was raised 
wholly from the floor with a great weight upon it ; it was 
riveted, as it were, to the floor, so that it resisted the 
efforts of four persons to raise it till the top gave way, and 
then, by permission of the spirits, was raised by myself 
alone without difficulty ; bells were rung and made to 
chime in with the beating of time to a march ; the guitar 

•i 



50 INTRODUCTION. 

was played by an invisible hand, as by the most accom- 
plished performer ; deep indentations were made by the 
tip end of the handle of a bell (being pointed with brass) 
in hard cherry wood, which could only be done by a power 
that could thus wield the bell, and by an intelligence to 
direct that power ; the bell and a hand were impressed on 
various parts of the person ; finally, a sentence was written 
purporting to come from John C. Calhoun, which his most 
intimate friends testify is the perfect handwriting, or a 
perfect fac simile of the handwriting of Calhoun. All 
these manifestations were made by an invisible power and 
intelligence, the room being well lighted, and where there 
was an utter impossibility for the interposition or agency 
of any human power. Dr. Dods upon his theory might 
undertake to say that the persons who relate these things 
were psychologized, and supposed they saw them, when in 
truth they were deluded. If they were in a psychological 
state, and merely imagined these things to exist, when they 
come out of that state these imaginary facts would vanish 
with the delusion that produced them. But it so happens 
that the indentations in the table are still to be seen, and 
the handwriting is still preserved, and in my possession, 
and has been shown to hundreds of persons. Dr. Dods, 
then, has " no philosophy to reach the case," to use his 
own language, and must become a Spiritualist. There are 
thousands of similar facts, and many vastly more astound- 
ing than those above related. 

In the month of June last I attended a select circle in 
the city of New- York, composed of the very elite of the 
city. The room was darkened, and an accordion placed 
under the table by direction of the spirits. The circle sang 
several beautiful airs, and the accordion played the ac- 
companiment as perfectly as the most skillful performer 
could have done. " Sweet Home" was then played on the 
accordion by an invisible hand, without voices accompa- 
nying it, in a style as beautiful and exquisite as I ever 
heard it in my life. All the members of the circle felt the 



INTRODUCTION. 51 

impressions of hands upon their persons ; some had their 
handkerchiefs taken from their pockets, and afterward re- 
turned to them ; one gentleman had letters taken from his 
pocket, and one by one returned to him ; I felt a hand on 
different parts of my person, and then it passed over my 
face, so that I distinctly felt the fingers ; my eye-glass was 
taken from one pocket and transferred to another, together 
with various other manifestations unnecessary here to re- 
peat ; and made, too, whilst the members of the circle 
joined hands as they had been previously directed. 

On another evening the same circle met. They had 
previously been directed to bring three guitars. I was di- 
rected through the rappings to place the guitars under the 
table, the room having been darkened as before. They 
commenced tuning the guitars, which, it was perceived, 
were badly out of tune. I remarked it was a pity they 
were so out of tune, but if the spirits could tune them the 
manifestation would be still better. I could hear the keys 
turned and the strings touched as plainly as I ever heard 
such an instrument tuned. In a little time the alphabet 
was called for, and it was rapped out, " You will perceive 
they are in tune ;" and they were in perfect tune. The 
circle were then directed to chant the Lord's Prayer, which 
they did, the guitars playing the accompaniment. In like 
manner they were directed to sing " Old Hundred," which 
they did, with the same accompaniment. They then sang 
several fashionable airs accompanied by the guitars, as 
perfectly and as exquisitely as I ever heard them at the 
most celebrated concerts. They were then directed to sing 
" Hail Columbia." They commenced singing ; one of the 
guitars came out from under the table, moved by an in- 
visible power, and as it passed over the circle, beat time 
on the head of each one with the body of the guitar as it 
passed, whilst the strings were playing the air above ! It 
then returned under the table as before. During most of 
these performances one of the guitars, which had been, by 
invisible hands, placed between my feet and rested on my 



52 INTRODUCTION. 

knee, was played at intervals until it was finally removed 
from me. 

One of the guitars then played successively " Old Dan 
Tucker," "Uncle Ned," and " Lilly Dale" most exquisitely. 
A gentleman sang the air to each. The guitar then struck 
up what is known as the "Shaker Song" in Ethiopian min- 
strelsy ; and when that was finished, the alphabet was 
called for, and it was rapped out, "My name is Luke 
West, formerly of Christy's Minstrels." One gentleman 
remarked that he believed there was a performer by that 
name at Christy's, but was not certain. The next day I 
caused inquiry to be made, and was informed there had 
been a performer by the name of "Luke West, 5 ' but that 
he had died within a week, on a recent tour to Boston ! 
Now let skeptics account for this manifestation. Here was 
a person unknown to any of the circle — no such perform- 
ance was anticipated — and still his disembodied spirit 
manifests itself both by the music and the name in a man- 
ner that leaves no room for doubt, and which perfectly 
identifies the spirit ! I might multiply these physical 
manifestations to any extent. But I feel that I have said 
enough under this head. 

Secondly. Rapping and tipping Mediums. These mani- 
festations are sometimes objected to as low and undignified. 
It should be recollected that by this means the great mass 
of mankind are more easily reached than by any other. 
They require something that appeals to the physical senses, 
and vastly more persons are convinced by the rappings 
and tippings than by any other mode. If, then, these 
manifestations are designed for the benefit of mankind, the 
means are adapted to the end by the various phases in 
which they are presented. Let any one look at some of 
the communications through these mediums, and ponder 
on the purity and sublimity of sentiment, and he will no 
longer entertain the idea of a want of dignity in the mode 
of communication. In another connection I gave one from 
< c John the Beloved." I now insert one from John How- 



INTRODUCTION. 53 

ard, the great English philanthropist. It was received 
through the same medium, and by the same circle, com- 
posed of some of the highest judicial functionaries, and of 
ladies and gentlemen of the highest literary and scientific 
attainments. It is as follows : 

My mission, both in my physical and spiritual form, has ever been, and still 
is, to ameliorate the condition of the human race. I have penetrated the 
darkest abode of vice in every clime, and dropt the seed which sprung up to 
reform and repentance. I have visited the cell of the maniac, and calmed the 
troubled spirit, and led forth the sparkling gem to glow and expand in the 
sunlight of freedom — to attract and be attracted. I have looked upon the 
poor slave in his chains and degradation. I have inspired his sinking soul 
with hope, and taught to revile not when reviled, but to look forward to that 
great day when color shall be lost in brilliancy. 

I have sit in the councils with the framers of human laws. I have expanded 
their views and softened the rigor of their spirit, and infused into their souls 
the spirit of liberty. My zeal will never flag, neither will my spirit weary or 
my labor cease, until angels shall look down from their bright abode upon this 
darkened sphere, and behold reflected, as from the face of a polished mirror, 
the image of the Most High from every heart of every son of man. 

John Howard. 

It will be perceived that the style and sentiment of this 
communication are perfectly characteristic of the one from 
whom it purports to come. "When the communication was 
read over, the spirit directed the words, "to attract and be 
attracted," to be annexed as the close of the sentence 
where they now stand, instead of the commencement of the 
next paragraph, as I had taken them down. The propriety 
of the correction will be at once seen. I then inquired if 
the spirit wished to change the words "dropt" and "sit" 
into more modern form and tense, and was answered, "No. 
It will be seen that these words are used as they were com- 
monly used in his day. I mention these things merely as 
significant of the intelligence which directed the communi- 
cation. In communications purporting to come from Cal- 
houn, he has frequently directed a word to be changed, 
and even the punctuation to be altered, to make the sen- 
tence more complete. This, too, is perfectly characteristic 
of him. I might add many more communications through 



54: INTRODUCTION. 

the rapping and tipping mediums, of the same exalted 
character. But let these suffice. 

Thirdly. Drawing Mediums. This is an extraordinary 
phase of the manifestations. I have seen drawings of the 
most exquisite style and finish, made by persons entirely 
unacquainted with drawing, and with a delicacy of touch 
and shading beyond any thing that can be done by the 
most distinguished artists. These drawings are made with 
a single pencil — the hand of the medium is involuntarily 
moved, and in an incredibly short space of time the draw- 
ing is finished. They purport to be drawings of leaves, 
vines, fruits, and flowers of the spheres. Suffice it to say, 
they are unlike any thing on earth, and no botanist has 
ever been able to classify them. I have heard the most 
distinguished artists in Washington, who have seen the 
mediums in the act of drawing, say, that what would take 
the medium one hour to draw, would take them a whole 
day to copy, and they could not even then begin to come 
up to the original — and whilst the medium uses but a 
single pencil, they would have to use the whole range of 
pencils ! 

Fourthly. "Writing Mediums. Under this head, this 
book itself is a most prominent example. Were not this 
sufficient, I might introduce communications written through 
the same medium, of the most exalted character, enough 
to fill a volume. I can not forbear, however, to insert one 
from an old friend whom I introduced to the knowledge of, 
and who became a believer in, "Spiritualism," and who 
has since gone to his spirit-home. He was a man of the 
highest order of intellect, and in this communication, 
amongst many others I have received from him, he gives 
his views of the Divinity of Christ : 

" Twin Being, God with Man, 
Whose double nature indicates in Heaven 
The natural and the spiritual." 

Age after age, and century after century have rolled into that boundless 
sea of eternity since the bright and glorious Taper was lighted upon the shores 



INTRODUCTION. 55 

of the dark midnight of Earth. The man came who was to be unto eternity 
a bright and shining star glistening in the Heavens, yet visible ever as one of 
the gems of the Earth. 

Mankind may mock at the lowly one who was nailed upon the cross, but 
surely they know not what they do. 

The human mind requireth some high point after which to strive and obtain. 
This must be an earthly object for the earthly part — an high and spiritual 
object for the spiritual part. 

] The Man of God, called Christ Jesus, was, and still is, this Ideal. He was 
©f Earth, yet of Heaven — he was of Man, yet of God. 

He was the model after which man could pattern, and why is this miracu- 
lous ? Did ye understand the laws of your being, this miracle would be as 
simple as the production of the most deformed object termed man. 

The Angel of the Lord appeared unto Mary his mother, who came forth as 
the child of Joseph, yet as the child of God. 

Within the spirit of the mother the angelic Ideal was formed, and from this 
Ideal the child grew, strengthened, and came forth to be the Ideal Angel upon 
Earth. 

Herein we have the beginning of the great Ideal Man. And this Ideal must 
in Man be highest of his high conceptions, else must he raise his eyes still far- 
ther and still higher toward the Great Fountain whence all Ideals come. 

God hath proven his love for man in this great safeguard unto his existence 
more than in any other one thing — this is, in establishing within the mind an 
Ideal which every man must seek to obtain, and in the seeking elevate himself 
toward the ever-receding point which, when at last obtained, is upon the right 
hand of the Father, and in his glorious presence blessed. 

See, oh, friend, the majestic beauty of this arrangement, created to seek, and 
in seeking blessed. Oh, how good and how lovely is the Great Father ! 

Man separates the Ideal from the man Christ, and as a consequence, the 
earth being earthy, the great and good production dwindles, as doth the lovely 
rose, into the dead dry dust. 

Do thou seek high. Pause only when thou hast attained the starry crown 
of Ideal perfection, and dost wear it in the regions of celestial essence. 

Around thee will circle the radiant light emanating from Deity, and reflected 
from thy crown unto the boundary of the universe. Every angelic spirit will 
know thee ; every bud, blossom, and flower will hail thee as the one who sought 
the high and the holy spheres of heaven. 

Oh, friend, it is a blessed thing to seek highly. 

It is a blessed thing to strive to do God's will as thou dost feel it revealed 
within thy own spirit-sanctuary. 

Oh, take heed lest thou stumble ; follow no light save God's within thy spirit 
revealed. 

Love — gentle incense — heavenly dew — hath no affinity for the dark desires 
and fierce hatreds of erring man. 

Neither hath the high and pure spiritual Ideal any affinity for the low and 
groveling opposite. 
t Seek to obtain a grand elevation of thought, for as thou dost plant on earth 



56 INTRODUCTION. 

so wilt thou seek in heaven the fruits of thy labor. Ay, seek, seek, and ye 
shall find within God's eternal presence the consummation of your perfected 
hopes. 

There is no thought on earth that hath not form in heaven. There is not a 
seed, however small, that is not eternal. The condensation of light within the 
germ which is brought forth to view in the outward by the light without, 
taking upon itself the form of new-born life, this quiet essence is an emanation 
of that purity surrounding the great I Am, and from which himself enjoyeth. 

The sweetness of the lovely flower coming unto you is but an effluence of this 
light divine which emanateth from the Great Fountain from which all nature 
drinketh and in which Jehovah dwelleth. 

Oh, man ! why love the form ? that which it represents is sweeter far than 
its dense expression, pictured in dust, and with dust in scent 'tis mingled. 

The great I Am, the all of essensic purity, hath never in the fleshy mind of 
man assumed the form of an ideal. 

Forever above and beyond — forever sought— forever found that none may 
e'er despond — yet never, never bound. 

Boundless, infinite Jehovah ! All nature heaves her breast at thought of 
thee, oh, most high and loving Father. 

Trust thy God, and ever unto him submit ; patiently under his rod be 
chastened. 

He loveth and will ever protect the faithful. 

Friend, such is my love ; I would fain stay thee, as thou didst strive to 
strengthen me when I chafed against a cold and bitter earth. May God 
bless thee and thine, and may around thee shine emblems of eternal day — 
scintillations of the ray of God's bright face. 

Oh, mayest thou ever live, and unto the troubled give joy such as unto me — 
so kindly —so free — thou didst give. 

God bless thee too, my friend, and unto thy life send virtuous plenty ; that 
thou mayest ever write, the darkness into light, and always fill the empty 
with joy serene.* 

Such, my love, 'tis from above — and from such love hatred must move — as 
all at God's command. ' 

I give you joy in the glorious dawn which hath followed the darkened, mid- 
night hour. 

Farewell, farewell ! Yet will we ever meet, and in communion sweet, our 
jo^ we'll tell. r. 

Before I leave this class of mediums, I will give a speci- 
men of poetry which is worthy to be ranked with Key's 
" Star Spangled Banner," Drake's "American Flag," or 
Campbell's " Hohenlinden." It was written through spirit- 
ual influence by Mary Jane Cunningham, of Washington 

* This refers to the medium, Mr. Linton, through whom this and former 
communications came. 



INTRODUCTION. 57 

city, fourteen years of age, and who had never attempted 
to write poetry, and had no peculiar taste for it. It is as 
follows : 

OUE NATIONAL ENSIGN. 

Flag of the planet gems ! 
Whose sapphire- circled diadems 
Stud ev'ry sea, and shore, and sky — 
Oh ! can thy children gaze 
Upon thy silver blaze, 
Nor kindle at thy rays, 
Which led the brave of old to die? 
Thou banner ! beautiful and grand, 
Float thou forever o'er our land ! 

Flag of the stripes of fire ! 
Long as the bard his lofty lyre 
Can strike, thou shalt inspire our song — 
We'll sing thee 'round the hearth, 
We'll sing thee on strange earth, 
We'll sing thee when we forth 
To battle go, with clarion tongue ! 
Flag of the free and brave in blood, 
For aye be thou the blest of God ! 

Flag of the bird of Jove ! 
Who left his home, the clouds above, 
To point the hero's lightning path — 
Around thee will we stand, 
With glitt'ring sword in hand, 
And swear to guard the land 
Which quell'd the British lion's wrath ; 
Flag of the West ! be thou unfurled, 
Till the last trump arouse the world ! 

Flag of two ocean shores ! 
Whose everlasting thunder roars 
From deep to deep, in storm and foam — 
Though with the sun's red set 
Thou sink'st to slumber, yet 
With him in glory great 
Thou risest, and shall share his tomb ! 
» Thou banner ! beautiful and grand, 
Float thou forever o'er our land ! 

I will also add the following little gems, written under 
the same influence, and by the same medium. 



58 INTEOD CCTION. 



LIFE. 

The Past ! what is it but a gleam, 

Which Mem' ry faintly throws ? 
The Future ! 'tis a fairy dream, 

Which Hope and Fear compose ! 
The Present is the lightning's glance, 

That comes and disappears. 
Thus Life is but a moment's trance 

Of memories, hopes, and fears. 



As the wild waves of ocean glide, 

And life's deep waters flow, 
Hope's foam-bells dance upon the tide, 

And memory pearls below. 

Fifthly. Speaking Mediums. It is more difficult to give 
specimens of communications through speaking mediums, 
because, usually, there is no reporter present who can 
take them down and follow the speaker in the rapidity of 
utterance. But I have heard speeches and addresses 
through speaking mediums that have surpassed in elo- 
quence any thing I ever heard from human, lips. Of most 
of them I only have brief notes, which give a very inad- 
equate idea of the style and sentiment of the speaker. If 
all that I have received had been taken down by a report- 
er, they would fill volumes of the highest order of elo- 
quence ever given to the world. These efforts were infi- 
nitely above the capacity of the mediums ; and if they 
could be supposed to come from his own mind, they would 
show a versatility of talent which no man on earth ever 
possessed before. 

I will conclude this branch of the subject by giving two 
productions through a speaking medium delivered in my 
presence, and taken down by a phonographic reporter, and 
written out word for word as they appear. The first is 
from Webster, and was given under the following circum- 
stances : After the organization of the " Society for the 
Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge," and whilst the Trustees 
were together and deliberating about an address, I re- 
marked that we should be pleased if some one of our 



INTRODUCTION. 59 

spirit-friends would give us an address. Immediately the 
medium was entranced, rose and spoke the address as from 
Webster, and with his manner of delivery. The style and 
language will at once be recognized as perfectly Webste- 
rian. ]N~o address could have been so well adapted to the 
occasion, or have contained so much in so condensed a 
form. (See Appendix F.) 

The second is from Alexander Hamilton, through the 
same medium, on " Civilization." I was present at its 
delivery, as also at the delivery of the two preceding 
addresses which are alluded to in this, namely, on the 
" Bible," and on " Christianity." They are all worthy the 
high intellect of the great American statesman, and the 
one here given will be read with pleasure by every one 
who feels an interest in the history of the past, and the 
progress of the future. (See Appendix G.) 

There are other phases of mediumship, namely, for mu- 
sic, dancing, and singing. I have seen a boy of twelve 
years of age, who had made no proficiency in music, play 
the violin in a style equal to the most distinguished artists. 
He purports to be influenced by Paganini. Good judges 
pronounce his performance of the " Carnival of Venice," 
equal to that of Ole Bull. 

I have seen a young lady in the trance-state dance with 
all the ease and grace of Fanny Ellsler. She would then 
sing to any air which might be played on the violin or the 
accordion, the words being improvised, first in Italian and 
then in English. She has no knowledge of any language 
but the English. She purports to be influenced by Bellini, 
the great Italian composer. 

I have heard a young lady in the trance-state sing in a 
style, as certified by competent judges, equal to the most 
celebrated performers. She purports to be influenced by 
Catalini and Malibran. 

I have seen a lady in the trance-state engaged in trans- 
lating the books of the Old Testament into a sort of hiero- 
glyphics, which the spirit called the original language in 



60 INTRODUCTION. 

which they were written. She had got to the 49th chapter 
of Genesis when I saw her. She opened a quarto Bible 
which lay before her at that chapter, looked at it, and 
then commenced her hieroglyphics, and put the whole 
chapter on one page of letter paper. The characters were 
made with perfect neatness with a steel pen ; were written 
with great rapidity and accuracy on straight lines. Before 
she commenced the 50th and last chapter in Genesis, her 
husband said he would now take the lights from the room, 
and we would see in the result that she wrote just as well 
in the dark as in the light. He did so, and left some six 
or eight of us present totally in the dark. I could hear 
her dip her pen into the inkstand, hear it pass rapidly 
over the paper till she ceased writing. The lights were 
then restored, and we saw the 50th chapter written on one 
page of letter paper in the same manner as I have de- 
scribed the 49th. Her husband said she had frequently 
got up in the night and wrote a chapter in the dark, and 
he would find it on the table in the morning. A gentle- 
man present told me he was once there, and expressed a 
desire for a specimen of these characters. She immediately 
took from her pile of manuscript one chapter, and handed 
it to him. He at first declined taking it because it was a 
chapter of her translation. She said she could make an- 
other. At the very next sitting she translated this chapter 
anew. Afterward the gentleman was again present. On 
being informed she had translated that chapter again, he 
was curious to compare his with it. On comparison they 
were found to agree in every particular as perfectly as if 
they had been both taken from the same copperplate ! 

In June, 1853, after my return from New York, where I 
had witnessed many manifestations, I called on a writing 
medium in my neighborhood. A communication came 
through her to me, directing me to form a circle in my 
own family, and that a medium would be developed that 
would be all I could desire. I asked who it would be. It 
was answered, a daughter. I asked which daughter, as I 



INTRODUCTION. 61 

have four daughters. It was answered, Emily. I was 
then directed, when a circle should be formed at my house, 
to put Emily at the piano. I asked, " Will you teach her 
to play?" It was answered, " You will see." Emily is my 
youngest daughter, and at that time about thirteen years 
of age. It is here proper to remark that she never knew a 
note in music, and had never played a tune on the piano in 
her life. The reason is this. The country was entirely 
new when we moved here, and there was no opportunity 
at that time for instruction in music. She was instructed 
in other branches of education at home by myself, or some 
member of the family. I soon formed a circle in my 
family, as directed. Emily took paper and pencil. Soon 
her hand was moved to draw straight lines across the 
paper till she made what is termed a staff in music. She 
then wrote notes upon it ; then made ail the different signs 
in music, about all which she knew nothing. She then threw 
down her pencil, and began to strike the table as if striking 
the keys of the piano. This reminded me that I had been 
directed to place her at the piano. 1 proposed it to her, and, 
though naturally diffident, she at once complied, and took 
her seat with all the composure and confidence of an expe- 
rienced performer. She struck the keys boldly, and played 
" Beethoven's Grand Waltz," in a style that would do 
credit to one well advanced in music ! She then played 
many familiar airs, such as " Sweet Home," " Bonnie 
Doon," " Last Eose of Summer," " Hail to the Chief," 
"Old Folks at Home," "Lilly Dale," etc. She then 
played an air entirely new, and sang it with words impro- 
vised or impressed for the occasion. ISTew and beautiful 
airs continued to be sung by her, the poetry and sentiment 
being given as before. She was also soon developed as a 
writing medium, and I have received many beautiful com- 
munications through her, and of the purest religious senti- 
ment. 

I have witnessed seeing mediums, who see and describe 
with perfect accuracy spirits present, whom they have 



62 INTRODUCTION. 

never seen nor heard of before ; also healing mediums of 
almost miraculous power. 

After all this, who can doubt the spiritual source of these 
manifestations? The facts justify this belief ; and reason 
and common sense, as well as the Scriptures, indorse it. I 
conclude, therefore, that as the whole Christian world has 
always believed that departed spirits revisit the earth, that 
they attend us and impress us, there is no objection, under 
these extraordinary manifestations, to believing that they 
now have a more direct mode of communication, which 
mode, if the other was for our good, is still more for our 
good. 

But the question is often asked, What good is to come 
of these manifestations ? 'No matter how this question 
may be answered, it has nothing to do with the manifesta- 
tions themselves. The great thing to be established is the 
fact of spiritual intercourse. If that fact be true, then we 
may well wait for further developments, if we are not al- 
ready satisfied of the good which is to come of it. But 
that question has already been answered with characteristic 
brevity, in a communication to me, through a rapping me- 
dium, purporting to come from John C. Calhoun. He 
says, a It is to bring mankind together in harmony, and to 
convince skeptics of the immortality of the soul." What 
two greater objects can we conceive of than these? The 
establishment of the one gives us, as it were, a heaven upon 
earth, and the establishment of the other gives us a fore- 
taste of the heaven which is to come. To accomplish the 
first there must be a radical change in society. The toiling 
millions must be raised to an equality of privileges, " so 
that the rich man, who rolls in luxury shall not cause the 
sweat to pour from the poor man's brow." In other words, 
again to quote from a communication from Calhoun: 
" Were labor so equalized that all might bear a part, each 
in his respective capacity, all might share in the benefits, 
and yet all be in their proper places, not to create confu- 
sion, or a vast revolution, or plan of socialism, but so 



INTRODUCTION. 63 

dividing and diffusing that the wants of all should supply 
the wants of all ; the works of all supply the works of all ; 
mind as well as labor. By so doing there would be no 
necessity for the poor beggar to wander through your 
streets, for the little stray waifs, the homeless ones, to be 
cast on the broad sands of iniquity." This change must 
also extend to morals, religion, and governments. Morals 
must be based on the pure foundation where Christ placed 
them, instead of the factitious and debased system which 
the selfishness of man has adopted. Religion must be 
founded on the doctrines which Christ taught and prac- 
ticed, and not on the sectarianism which has been intro- 
duced by the perverted creeds of men. Governments must 
be reformed, so that the people shall enjoy the rights and 
privileges which despots have so long usurped. These great 
reforms are to be wrought out by the principles of Spirit- 
ualism, and its mission will not end until they are fully 
accomplished. 

" I can conceive a time when the world shall "be 
Much better visibly, and when, as far 
As social life and its relations tend, 
Men, morals, manners, shall be lifted up 
To a pure height we know not of nor dream ; — 
When all men's rights and duties shall be clear, 
And charitably exercised and borne ; 
When education, conscience, and good deeds 
Shall have just equal sway, and civil claims ; — 
Great crimes shall be cast out, as were of old 
Devils possessing madmen : Truth shall reign, 
Nature shall be re-throned, and man sublimed." 

To accomplish the second, the skeptical man is brought 
by these manifestations to investigate the subject, and the 
evidence presented from beyond the portals of the grave 
convinces him of his own immortality. What higher ob- 
ject can be presented to mankind to strive after than to 
satisfy them of the immortality of the soul ? to convince 
them of an "hereafter," and that "death is not an eternal 
sleep ?" Infidelity is sown broadcast over the land. The 
Church has no vitality. It has lost its power to check this 



64 INTRODUCTION. 

mighty torrent. Sectarianism and the antagonistic creeds 
of men have impaired the confidence of the masses in the 
vital truths of Christianity as presented in the Bible, till 
they doubt and even deny the immortality of their own 
souls. The ministers of the gospel, from the sacred desk, 
utter their ineffectual lamentations over the mournful scene 
around them, and find in themselves no power to stem the 
onward current of infidelity, which passes by them with 
an increased and still increasing force. The religious press 
of Great Britain and the United States teem with articles 
on the same subject, and with all the eloquence which pens 
can indite and types distribute, unite in one loud cry of 
wild despair over the impending ruin. In the midst of 
this scene of despondency and doubt come these " Spirit- 
ual Manifestations," and 

" Like the airy plum'd dove, 
God's own type of love," 

give assurance that the waters of this mighty flood are sub- 
siding. Infidelity is prostrated before them. The skeptic 
yields to these evidences from beyond the tomb ; confesses 
and recants the great error of his past life ; for the first 
time believes and proclaims the great truths of the Bible ; 
embraces the sacred volume as the pillow of his hope ; and 
returns most fervent and devout thanks to the Giver of all 
good for the " manifestations" vouchsafed to the children 
of men. This is no fancy sketch. I speak of what my 
own eyes have seen, and my own ears have heard during 
the course of my investigations. Behold here is accom- 
plished that for which the church and the religious press 
have labored in vain ; but instead of gratitude and exulta- 
tion over this great victory, wrought out by these " Spirit- 
ual Manifestations," we hear them again and again de- 
nounced, and the question is again put, "What good is to 
come of them ? Can ignorance, bigotry, superstition, and 
fanaticism go further? Let justice and honor, let religion 
and true piety answer the question. 
The conversion of the infidel is not the only good whick 



INTRODUCTION. 65 

has already appeared from these manifestations. The ten- 
dency of "Spiritualism" is to make every believer a better 
man. This is exemplified in his daily walk in life. He 
endeavors to leave upon every act the impress of his faith, 
of his love to God and man, of his love to his neighbor as 
to himself; and he acts as if he believed " that every 
thought, word, and action is registered in heaven," and he 
tries so to make up his own record that he will not be 
afraid to meet it there. He does not live a life of iniquity 
in the vain hope, before he ends his earthly career, that 
some sudden change may transform the demon of earth to 
an angel of light. His is a faith that works by love, and 
he shows his faith by his works ; he believes that faith 
without works is dead. He believes, and he acts up to his 
belief, " that one sermon with the hand is worth a thou- 
sand with the tongue." He believes that our dear and 
loved friends and relatives are still our associates and com- 
panions ; that they watch over us, guard us, and protect 
us. The belief in their presence restrains him from any 
wrong act ; and the idea of their cognizance is brought home 
to him with more palpable distinctness than the vague idea 
of an omnipresence, which, though believed by all, is 
heeded by few. He believes that by a life of purity he 
shall join those relatives, friends, and companions. He 
believes "when the spirit leaves the body it goes to its own 
place ; and we are now, by our lives here, each one and all, 
building for ourselves a habitation there, a temple not made 
with hands, which we shall surely find ready for our occu- 
pancy when we pass on. According as we sow we shall 
reap. If we wish to find our home in the future a home of 
love and truth, goodness and wisdom, we must cultivate 
and mold our thoughts with such principles here." His 
belief has robbed death of its terrors, because by a life 
in accordance with that belief he feels assurance, that he, 
in the language of Calhoun, " shall lie down with compo- 
sure, and await his change from earth to a happier sphere 
with as much pleasure as he would exchange an old gar- 

5 



bb INTRODUCTION. 

ment for a new one." And " he begins to understand the 
character of our heavenly Father, who wills that all shall 
enjoy the happiness their capacity can bear." 

In my investigation of " Spiritualism," I have not stopped 
to inquire about particular doctrines or tenets of belief. 
My great object has been to become satisfied of the fact of 
spiritual intercourse. Of that fact I am as well satisfied, 
from the most irrefragable proofs, as I am of my own ex- 
istence. That being established, and these manifestations 
being in accordance with God's laws and with God's per- 
mission, there must necessarily follow from them important 
results. I await those results with equal interest and plea- 
sure. We have but just learned the alphabet of these mani- 
festations. Further and higher developments are promised 
and anticipated. Let none be deterred from investigating 
the subject by reason of any discrepancies in communica- 
tions already given to the world. With equal propriety 
might they be deterred from investigating the subject of 
religion itself, because of the discrepancies existing amongst 
the various sects. Let them once satisfy their own minds, 
as I have done, of the fact of spiritual intercourse, and they 
will be prepared to judge these manifestations by the 
standard of their own reason and of the truths of the Bible. 
These truths may thus be elucidated and made plain to our 
comprehension. We may thus be taught anew and more 
palpably the knowledge of "our duties and relations to 
each other — the progressive development of mankind, ex- 
tending through all past time, and onward forever — which 
shall consume sectarian faith, and break down the partition 
walls which have so long stood between man and man, and 
blasted the peace of society with its contaminating influ- 
ences ; whose mission it shall be to develop moral, in- 
tellectual, and social worth, and thereby establish peace 
and harmony on earth, and prepare the soul for a truly 
blessed reception in heaven." 

The great doctrine derived from spiritual communications 
is that of everlasting Progression. This is the doctrine of 



INTRODUCTION. 67 

the Bible ; and that progress depends upon ourselves and 
the purity of our lives whilst on earth. And " while on 
the one hand it holds out to the pure a never-ending and 
still-increasing happiness, so on the other it denounces 
against the willfully vicious, the hard, the cruel, the selfish, 
the worldly man, a condition of self and mutual torment 
more revolting than any material hell which man's imagi- 
nation in its wildest flights ever painted." 

"We see Progression in every thing — even in religious 
doctrines and religious teachings. Within my recollection 
I have heard from the pulpit, unbaptized infants consigned 
to eternal damnation in liquid fires, together with other 
doctrines equally revolting, and which no man at the pres- 
ent day dare utter either in public or in private. The 
Bible teaches Progression. It shows different gradations 
of the progressed and progressing spirit to that of the spirit 
of the just man made perfect. Paul was caught away to 
the third heaven — Christ " ascended up far above all 
heavens." Christ also said, u In my Father's house are 
many mansions;" and the Scripture says, "Then shall the 
dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall re- 
turn unto God who gave it." And nature, which is but a 
revelation of God himself, teaches the same doctrine. I 
was once present when a communication was received from 
Lord Bacon on the subject of Progression. I transcribe a 
portion of it for its beauty of style and profundity of 
thought : 

The question is often asked, What is the true purpose and object of life ? It 
may be said this differs in all persons ; that the situation, position, the con- 
nections, and the associations change or alter the destiny of all men. True, 
this may be so ; the action of life may differ in most men, but this does not 
touch the question proposed, What is the true object of life, or for what pur- 
pose were men created or placed on earth ? * * * * 

Do you, gentlemen, who have seen much of life, mingled with all classes of 
society and all kinds of men, you who have measured intellect with intellect, 
and have wandered through many a mazy path to arrive at your present 
positions, do you really feel that all your early understanding of religious 
teaching has in fact opened to your minds one truism in regard to your pres- 
ent or future state ? 



68 INTRODUCTION. 



Can you place your finger on one statement, in all the teachings of priest or 
layman, which is truthfully explanatory of what the true object of life is ? 

Look at the little shrub growing by the wayside ; it bears no resemblance to 
the tall, branching tree at the foot of which it humbly bows its head to every 
blast which passeth ; and who shall say for what purpose that insignificant 
shrub is placed in that precise locality ? Who shall say that when year after 
year shall have rolled over its little branches, it may not bow, too, its giant 
arm — sturdy body, too, alike to the storm, as well as the towering oak near 
which now it so meekly vegetates ? 

The whole history of man must convince you that in spite of all oppression, 
despite of all combinations, and against all tyranny too, religious, civil, or 
political, he has manifested the true object of his existence, the sublimation of 
his material nature, or Progression. 

Now I pretend to say, that in every department of nature this statement 
can be corroborated ; that even from the earliest period, when erst the incon- 
gruous masses of matter were fashioned into shape by the omniscience and 
omnipotence of the First Cause — even from this period has, step by step, the 
whole creation developed itself as from a simple germ. 

Let the geologist explore the depths of the illimitable abyss, and he will 
bring up from the dark cavern of earth's interior the evidences of a step by 
step progression. Yes, and the astronomer too, as he wanders among the dark 
mysteries of space, tracing the comet's pathway through the orbits of sur- 
rounding worlds, sees in the flashing illuminations of that shadowy germ the 
nucleus of another world; and even man, from the little mass, unshapen, un- 
sexed, and undeveloped, there springs up, step by step, another important evi- 
dence of the truth of this doctrine — a man in form, but a God in spirit. 

The pious Hervey in his " Meditations" maintains the 
same doctrine : 

In the world above, are various degrees of happiness, various seats of honor. 
Some will rise to more illustrious distinctions and richer joys ; some, like ves- 
sels of ample capacity, will admit more copious accessions of light and excel- 
lence. Yet there will be no want, no deficiency, in any ; but a fullness both 
of divine satisfactions and personal perfections. Each will enjoy all the good, 
and be adorned with all the glory, that his heart can wish, or his condition 
receive. 

I can not leave this branch of the subject without citing 
an additional authority in support of it. The Rev. Dr. 
Clark, Bishop of Rhode Island, in a sermon preached be- 
fore his elevation to that high dignity said : 

I have now closed my argument, and would be glad, if time allowed, to pass 
to the survey of another most interesting question — What are the conditions 
of our future existence ? But as it is, I can only allude to one or two general 
points, and theh leave the subject to your individual reflections. 



I X T R O D TJ C T I O N . 69 

1 . In the first place, provision will undoubtedly be made hereafter for the 
culture and the exercise of all the intellectual and moral faculties of our 
nature. Heaven will not be a monotony. All which belongs to our nature, 
that is not sensual and sinful, will there find free scope for its development. 
Nothing, then, which we here learn, is lost. No elevated taste is cultivated 
in vain. No healthy affection withers under the touch of death. There are 
strains of melody, and sights of beauty, and holy friendships in the spiritual 
world. Every thing which God has made on earth, and which man has left 
untouched by sin, is only a symbol of something grander and more resplen- 
dent in reserve for the holy hereafter. What music will be heard in heaven ! 
What prospects will charm the eye ! What thoughts will be uttered there ! 
What emotions will be enkindled there ! What variety of employments, and 
yet nothing servile, nothing selfish ! How is it, then, that we shrink from the 
future ? Why does eternity come before us as a cold, blank void ? a sea with- 
out a shore, moaning and groaning under a starless sky, where the soul floats 
like a helmless wreck, solitary and despairing ? Because there is a stain of 
corruption on the soul which needs to be washed out ; because the sense of sin 
makes us afraid. 

2. In the second place, we observe that to the righteous the future will be a 
constant and unending progress. The law of this progress may be essentially 
the same as it is now, only it will operate under greatly improved conditions. 
We shall never reach a point where we shall stop and make no further ad- 
vance ; for then there would lie before us an eternity without occupation. All 
mortal creatures are capable only of a limited improvement, because theirs is 
a limited existence ; man must advance forever, because he lives forever. The 
time will no doubt come when we shall look back upon all that we have ac- 
quired and done in this world as we now regard the experiences of our earliest 
infancy, and we shall wonder that we then thought ourselves so wise. 

3. And finally, our future destiny will be in precise accordance to our de- 
serts and characters : we shall reap what we have sown. We shall begin our 
life hereafter as we close it here. There is no such thing as separating the 
man from his character, and there is no such thing as separating the character 
from the destiny. 

What a tremendous appeal therefore sounds from the other world, to those 
who are living in sin and alienated from their God ! 

These are Spiritual doctrines to the full extent. ~No 
Spiritualist could present them with more clearness. I cite 
them with the more pleasure because they emanate from a 
distinguished organ of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; 
and by his election to the Bishopric of Khode Island have 
received to that extent the sanction of that denomination 
of Christians. 

In this brief view — brief in comparison with the import- 
ance and magnitude of the subject — I have proved to the 



TO IN TROD UCTION. 

satisfaction of every impartial and candid mind the fact 
of spiritual intercourse, and that these manifestations are 
in accordance with, and designed to elucidate the truths of, 
the Bible as the word of God. It remains to be seen, after 
this " flood of living light," whether these denunciations 
are to continue, or whether the denunciators will longer 
expose their ignorance or incur the responsibility of such 
a course, or whether they will be prepared to embrace this 
great Bible truth, 

" And gather the laurels of Fame from the houghs of Eternity's Tree." 

But, whatever that course may be, the friends of this 
great and Godlike cause can not be driven from their pur- 
pose, for they are backed by a power which no human 
power can withstand or resist. I can not so well express 
my views on this subject as by quoting the language of 
"Webster, through a speaking medium (taken down by a 
phonographic reporter), in exhorting us to firmness and to 
action : 

Hurl defiance to the enemies of truth. Tell them to come on and draw 
their swords and see whose steel is the better tempered. Tell them yours is 
truth — truth forged in Heaven ; and that there is not a blade borne upon this 
earth which can turn its keen and strong edge. It will cleave, and it will 
hardly leave a mark ; but backed by the power behind, death follows its re- 
sistless blow. So you shall find, my friends, if you stand up before the world 
and draw your swords of truth, and let your banner float in the breeze, 
though all the world come on en masse to crush you in the place in which you 
stand, it will melt away before you like the snows in a spring morning, leav- 
ing nothing but moisture in your path to lay the dust and make the road more 
pleasant to travel in. Such, my friends, is the power of real, Heaven-born 
truth. Its possessor is armed better than Achilles, for even the heel is not left 
exposed. The time has come, my friends, when you should present yourselves 
to the world, and claim the consideration which is your due. I say, stand up 
on every occasion, and when any man or set of men throw Spirituality or 
Spiritualism in your teeth, throw back the truth to them, and you will con- 
quer, whether their name be one or legion. 

Such is the spirit with which the friends of truth have 
embarked in this great cause. They are not to be de- 
terred by the denunciations of the press, the fulminations 
of the pulpit, nor even by the bulls from the Vatican. 



INTRODUCTION. 71 

They claim for themselves liberty of thought, liberty of con- 
science, liberty of speech, and liberty of action. They are 
"men who know their rights, and, knowing, dare main- 
tain" them. 

In conclusion, I commend " The Healing of the Na- 
tions" to the respectful consideration of every candid 
mind. It appeals, in tones of loving sympathy, to all 
classes of society, from the highest to the lowest. It is 
emphatically "The Book for the Millions." It reaffirms, 
at the same time that it elucidates, the great truths of the 
Bible, and sustains the pure doctrines which Christ preach- 
ed and practiced, instead of the sectarianism established 
by the creeds of men. 

K". P. Tallmadge. 

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, November, 1854. 



''* 



THE 



HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 



1. God the Father reigneth. His are the heavens and 
the earth. His is space, and its numberless inhabitants 
are but fruits of his will. 

2. All his creation enjoyeth each one its own perfected 
happiness. 

3. He giveth joy unto all ; for he being the center of 
goodness, his effects are purely happy. 

4. His powers are felt by all his creation — by the amount 
manifested within the separate individual being. 

5. Existence is the greatest of blessings ; for without the 
action of God's will it were not, and he only acteth for 
good. 

6. Existence hath a cause, and giveth as its effects all 
that can recompense the cause. 

7. If the effects be good, then is the cause glorified ; for 
all causes are but one cause, which is God. 

8. One and eternal, indestructible, and unchangeable 
Father ruleth. 

9. He causeth all cause. 

10. He is the center whence all power cometh, and 
through whom all enjoy. 



74 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

11. "Without him existence were not known, and chaos 
were supreme. 

12. He came in his might of power, and in the still, 
quiet voice of the central essence spake forth creation. 

13. Chaos, obedient to its Master, retreated, and does 
still retreat before his will. 

14. He said, "Let there be light," and darkness shrunk 
behind it as a shadow. 

15. Light being named first by his voice, is greatest of 
his creative essences. 

16. It is his own pure Intelligence through whose agency 
all things became quickened into life by that voice. 

17. Great and simple, good and holy art thou, oh, Great 
First Cause. 

18. Below him all are limited. 

19. Man is in his image. 

20. Limited is he, yet master of his own limitation. 

21. He can, through the agency of light, enter the re- 
gions of God's love, and in that pure channel bathe away 
all his impurities. 

22. Formed of the earth, yet finished by God, he either 
serveth the one or the other, and in proportion is his re- 
ward in God's presence. 

23. Man is his own savior, his own redeemer. 

24. He is his own judge — in his own scale weighed. 

25. He buildeth his own altar, performeth his own sac- 
rifices, and in the sight of God writeth his own Destiny. 

26. He is in his own independent circle of existence, 
which, completed in all its parts, is as perfect -as his Fa- 
ther in Heaven ; for is not the circle of an atom as perfect 
as the boundary of the Universe ? and is not God the per- 
fect center of all things ? 

27. Light bringeth Life eternal. 

28. Wisdom is its fruit. In the light none stumble and 
act unwisely, for light is perfected in the action of its vo- 
taries. 

29. Man hath the light and its shadow placed before 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 75 

him ; he hath their essence within him ; he must choose 
his way between them. 

30. The light is always greatest, will always overcome 
darkness, because God said, " Let there be light," and 
darkness fled. 

31. The light within all things is the focal point of their 
intelligence in affinity with the light of God's intelligence, 
and by that guided. 

32. Man being in God's image is necessarily one, inde- 
pendent, eternal being. 

33. Being the son of God, is capable of attaining perfec- 
tion in the ages which compose eternity. 

34. So long as earth remaineth in him he must of neces- 
sity be impure. Light can not penetrate a dense mass, 
neither can the light within totally remove the darkness 
without. 

35. Refining while he liveth, giveth glory unto the sep- 
aration of his body and spirit, and maketh the light to 
shine unclouded by the clay departed. 

36. Man being limited, yet master of his own limitation, 
and having the intelligence of his own God-given existence 
perfect, must of necessity be free to act as his own intelli- 
gence dictates, or wander therefrom among the surrounding 
error ; for remember, light hath always a shadow ; intelli- 
gence hath its opposite, error. 

37. He can, through the agency of his own spirit's light, 
attract unto himself the intelligence of the grand Fountain 
which will purify, refine, and elevate him toward perfec- 
tion. Yet, if he choose, the opposite lieth before him, 
and he can wander about in the shadows, guided by a dim 
taper, stumbling and erring at every step. 

38. Why did God create ? 

39. God is Perfection, and, consequently, unto imperfect 
man incomprehensible and mysterious, because the imper- 
fect is less intelligent than the perfect. 

40. Whence came Man ? 

41. From God. Because his actions prove his cause to 



76 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

be more intelligent than himself, and his intelligence 
proves him to be above all below him : he being above all 
below him, can not be produced thereby, for a whole is 
greater than its parts. Whence comes his life, light, and 
love, save from the fountain of divine love and purity ? 

42. He came from God because God is the perfection of 
all his powers manifested in his actions. He acteth like 
unto God, when following his highest and purest prompt- 
ings ; and what are these promptings, save the rays of 
God's own pure intelligence ? From darkness came forth 
light ; from flesh cometh, by the word of God, the eternal 
spirit, and along with its kind Father, in glory reigneth. 

43. He came from God because he is controller of him- 
self. Because in his most trifling thought he imitateth the 
fountain of thought, and because his thoughts are imper- 
fect, and because he has the power to think ; therefore is 
there a perfect thought and a perfect power to think. 

44. And because man is imperfect, God is perfect, and 
created him. 

45. All things have a share in man, and thus is he in 
God's image. 

46. He is happiest when Good, and thus as he approach- 
eth Deity does he approach perfect happiness. 

47. God, being good, does not destroy his own works, 
and man, being in his image eternal, and having his living 
and loving attributes, therefore can he communicate with 
God while in the body, and with God and his fellow-man 
when the body is left behind on the earth whence it came. 

48. Principles and their essences emanating from God 
are indestructible, and as the harmony of God's works 
proveth his love for all, therefore can man, while in affinity 
with God, draw toward him and reap in His divine intelli- 
gence, his reward. 

49. Light, divine Intelligence, Instinct, or by whatever 
name called, is the grand moving power of Creation. 

50. It giveth the countless changes of outward nature ; 
it giveth the variations of thought, regulates its elevation 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 77 

or depression to suit the comprehension of its enjoyer, and 
in all things, actions, and thoughts, proveth that its cause 
of production was a boundless, universal, and supreme 
Love, filling the mind of Deity. 

51. God doth not destroy, because a necessity for de- 
stroying proveth imperfection in creating ; and hence did 
he destroy his own works, he would, of necessity, prove 
his own fallibility. 

52. In His works search is vain after waste, destruction, 
or annihilation. 

53. Neither is there Isolation, for all things being parts 
of God must all blend in Him in unison. 

54. God's love cementeth all unto one another, and into 
Him. 

55. He is known by His fruits to be a harmonious, lov- 
ing, and merciful Father to His creation. 

56. Discord can not produce harmony, neither can hatred 
produce love, neither can revenge produce mercy ; and as 
these things are nowhere in God's works visible, but their 
opposites, harmony, love, and mercy, therefore, are they 
the fruits of Deity wherever or whenever found. 

57. These fruits are extended unto man, His child in 
godly liberality, and all things below him and above him 
tend to furnish his animal nature and his spiritual being 
with perfect happiness. 

58. All creation joins in a happy hymn of praise unto 
its great first Cause — its kind and indulgent Creator — its 
loving and merciful Father. 

59. Happiness cometh only from goodness. 

60. The lower creation are of necessity happy, for their 
powers are without their own control, being dependents 
upon God for all things. 

61. Man's happiness is advanced in proportion as he is 
an imitator of his Father in Heaven. 

62. God hath not created unhappiness, and if man be 
unhappy his own error must carry the burden. 

63. He that hath light yet prefereth darkness, stum- 



78 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

bleth of himself, and can not blame the light he will not 
use. 

64. Let no man say, "I know not the right," for he 
casteth a reproof upon his Father. 

65. All are responsible for themselves only, and when 
weighed before the throne of mercy only their own weights 
will be used. 

66. Let no man weigh another's load, for he assumeth 
God's power. 

67. Let no man say unto his brother, " Do as I do," for 
no two are alike in the sight of God. 

68. Light ye one another, that your brethren who are in 
the dark beholding God's light reflected in your works 
imitate your ways, and thus through your instrumentality 
glorify God your Father. 

69. And He will be fond of you, for His heart is filled 
with love for His good children. 

TO. Ye are all rays of your Father's glory ; all separate, 
yet all having one common center. 

71. Then stand not in another's light, for thou dost not 
thus imitate thy Father who doeth good impartially unto 
all. 

72. But love ye one another, and by your goodness raise 
the fallen. By the light placed high show thy brother Ms 
road. Do not compel him to enter thy path, for either 
must thus be retarded in the journey toward perfection. 

73. Let each and every one search for God within his 
own light, for therein doth the Father search for him. 

74. And if he be found in another's light what credit 
hath he ? His own talents' idleness is a reproof unto him. 

75. Check not thy light, but compel none to look thereat, 
lest thy brother's task be unfinished, and he, through thy 
instrumentality, lose his reward. 

76. No two have the same task, and can not have the 
same reward. Therefore it becometh every one to guard 
their own talents, and to use them to glorify their Creator. 

77. Let no man ask. "Am I my brother's keeper?" for 



THE HEALING OF THE' NATIONS. 79 

God keepeth all by the fullness of his love, and all just 
men imitate his ways. 

78. Then keep not aloof from thy brother who is in 
error, but go to him and ask, " Art thou thus glorifying 
thy Father in Heaven ?" and his own light will reveal his 
path unto him. 

79. Sufficient unto each one is the light within. 

80. The vessel when full is not asked its measure, for 
with God the Father justice giveth unto each its own 
amount of happiness. 

81. The size is not asked, for that is with God, but the 
fullness thereof, for therein lieth the glory. 

82. The small measure would not fill the measure of the 
large, neither would the small hold for the large ; each 
must have its own, else discord would be the result. 

83. All things blend and mingle in harmony, each with 
its own particular kind, and all unite in the glorifying of 
the Creator. 

81. From the center doth come all. 

85. God is the eternal light, and his word is the truth, 
and all truth is his word. 

86. He cometh unto each one as the overflowing of their 
own powers or gifts ; as that which is beyond their com- 
prehension, the grand and good, yet mysterious and in- 
comprehensible, in all his ways. 

87. In His light all things are expanded and purified, 
and thus can man elevate himself and increase his happi- 
ness by earnestly striving after that pure intelligence which 
removeth all unhappiness from before the face of God. 

88. A certain Man arose early in the morning to journey 
up the mountain. He shook off the slumbers of the night, 
and with only a strong staff" commenced his journey. 

89. All around him was dark and gloomy ; the dawn 
was still afar off, yet in faith he stumbled on in the dark- 
ness, knowing that day must at length appear. 

90. He was all alone ; the slumberers had refused to be 
awakened, and he went along in what he felt to be the 



80 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

pathway beneath him ; often did he pause and feel around 
him to be certain that he was right. 

91. At last when he began to weary and wonder, when 
light was coming, he chanced to cast his eyes above him, 
and behold the top of the mountain already shone with the 
glorious rays of the rising sun. 

92. His path now became by the reflection distinctly 
visible, yet in looking in the direction whence he came, all 
seemed darker than before, and he was thankful that so 
much time had been gained. 

93. As the traveler journeyed on, the light came down 
the mountain side to meet him, and when it shone full 
upon him, his spirit bounded, and strength increased ten- 
fold. He paused at a pure mountain spring, and refreshed 
himself with a sparkling, joyous draught, and onward and 
upward bent his way. 

94. Ever and anon he paused and turned toward the 
valley, yet it was long, very long, ere he could distinguish 
any of the sluggards moving up toward his elevated posi- 
tion. He saw them in the valley eating the rich fruits, 
unmindful that the day was waning ; some singing and 
dancing, others wrangling about trifles, and in various 
ways hindering themselves from their journey. Few, very 
few, were pushing on right along the narrow path, with 
their eyes steadfastly gazing toward the top. 

95. He went on up higher and higher, and ere long, with 
the same eyes with which he could not at the start see one 
pace ahead, he could now see far and wide over the wide, 
extended planes, and his spirit breathed deep thankfulness 
at every step. 

96. At the noon he rested in the shade on the bank of 
a little rivulet bounding down the mountain side toward 
its home, and again commenced his journey upward. 

97. As the evening approached, the shadows filled the 
vale, yet the warm rays of the setting sun carried his 
thoughts on their own golden wings to a bright and happy 
home, whence all darkness was removed. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 81 

98. The top is gained, and away down the mountain 
settles the black cloud of night, enveloping all below him 
in its folds. 

99. Where he sits all is serene and calm. The last ray 
of the departing sun closes his eyes, and while a gentle 
zephyr fans him, sleep, Heaven's loved messenger, carries 
his happy spirit home to the regions of eternal day. 

100. Thus is the journey called Life. 

101. Unto the one who ascends high toward God cometh 
the Light Divine, the manifestation of God's love unto his 
children, to guide him on his way. 

102. Behold, oh, man, son of God, thy position, and re- 
joice that into thy own keeping art thou given, yet bound 
unto God as the earthly child unto its parent, by the loving 
tie of affinity. 

103. If thou wouldst approach God, be God-like. 

104. Thy Father being perfection can not change to suit 
thy imperfection ; thou must imitate his ways, and thus 
become his true child. 

105. He cometh to thee not in exhibitions of wrath or 
discordant sounds, but in the still, small voice that is al- 
ways harmonious and loving. 

106. It is the music of God's voice that awakens thy high 
and holy aspirations, and starts them up the mountain upon 
the top of which is his own pure light reflected. 

107. It is His voice that in the silent sanctuary of thy 
own spirit cometh to commune with thee, to influence thy 
steps into, the homeward path. 

108. It is His voice that in its divine intelligence giveth 
thee assurance of His supreme love for thee, His erring 
child. 

109. He does not come to thy spirit in startling tones of 
thunder to terrify thee, but in the thrilling tones of love 
does he continually manifest his power. 

110. In the deep and enduring thoughts of His children 
is his witness, ever working out His own glorious truth as 
a result inevitable unto thoughts inspired by His light. 

6 



82 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

111. Aspirations are all fervently silent in proportion as 
they are holy. God's glorious mind is the pure and eternal 
home of the powerful intelligence in the image of which 
man's mind and its resultant fruits were created, and who 
with outer ears while trammeled with earthly cares can 
hear, or with outer eyes see, the voice or effects of this 
great mainspring of all things ? 

112. As the life-blood silently and effectually courses 
the veins and arteries of man's animal nature, so does the 
life-blood of God pervade all his creation. As the deep, 
silent thought of man incites him to imitate God's work- 
ings by doing that which is good unto others, by loving 
his neighbor as himself, and his Father in Heaven su- 
premely, so do the deep and loving thoughts emanating 
from Deity as eternal floods of living Light give unto all 
things the essence whence cometh being, thought, and 
aspiration. 

113. Deity being, as it were, the embodiment of all re- 
fined essences, so pure and perfect that from them, though 
of his own creating, he reapeth all his own enjoyment. 

114. Oh, then, man of God ! how art thou blessed, that 
within thy being thou dost carry the purest of God's es- 
sences ; the essence of light, of love, of thought, of truth 
— yea, of all that is noble and God-like. Thou art like 
unto thy Father — as hath again and again been said, his 
Image — and if thy Father loveth thee, and in thy aspira- 
tions as the essence of thy being enjoy eth the food of thy 
giving, oh, wilt thou give thorns for roses, or stones for 
bread? 

115. Oh, son ! when thy Father asks of thee, it is heaven 
in purity unto thee to give, for in God's love the more 
thou givest the richer thou art. 

116. Unto God give all thy thoughts, and in thy actions 
he shall be glorified, and in his love thou shalt be rewarded. 

117. "The laborer is worthy of his hire," and in the 
labor is the hire while working for God's glory, for it re- 
doundeth unto the glory of the laborer even while yet 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 83 

upon his footstool. But oh, how small the labor and how 
great the reward when a short life given to God insures 
a life of perfect happiness unto all eternity ! 

118. Labor only for the glory of God, and he will feed 
thee of his own food, pay thee of his own pay, and give 
thee of his own rest when thy task is finished. 

119. Thou must of necessity imitate him to be happy, 
for he hath not created a being equal unto himself; and 
there being but one fountain of purity, there must thy 
spirit drink to be happy. 

120. Let no man mete out unto another that which God 
hath given him, as his brother's guidance, but let each and 
every one labor as they be called. Thus will the greatest 
possible results be attained. 

121. Let no man envy his brother his calling, for in 
each call is sufficient glory. God doth not labor in vain, 
neither those that he calls unto the labor. 

122. Behold the Lilies of the field ; they grow among 
weeds, mingling their roots and their sweetness with the 
rankness of the neighboring plants, yet is the lily as sweet 
as when found in the choicest garden. And if God hath 
thus created them, which in his sight, oh, wise man, is 
sweetest? Is not that which fulfills its destiny most ac- 
ceptable? Doth it not give God most glory? 

123. Then if thou hast a sweet thought, or can do a good 
action, do not check it because thy brother will not imitate 
thy ways, for he may be filling to perfection the destiny 
God hath marked out by the light bestowed upon him. 

124. Never presume to measure the designs of Deity. 

125. Thou knowest thou art limited, and therefore can 
not comprehend that which is unlimited, and certainly 
it is folly for incomprehension to attempt to measure com- 
prehension. 

126. Yet be not idle — strive to fill full thy own measure, 
and thou wilt find therein all the happiness thou canst 
comprehend. 

127. Thou canst expand it by the life-giving influence of 



84 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

God's light, and thus of thyself, by thy own faithfulness, 
increase thy own glory by attracting that of God. 

128. Kemember that when thy eye is elevated thou canst 
view far and near the beauty of God's works — all things 
in this position are exceeding lovely — yet when thou comest 
down into the valley thou canst scarcely see beyond thy 
own works ; their largeness and importance become greatly 
increased, for the eye is obstructed in its vision. 

129. Thus with the world- worshipers, the outside being 
seen, heard, and felt, and they being able to compel it to 
suit themselves, will blindly fall down before effect and 
worship, when, did they elevate themselves by their own 
humility before God, they would be enabled to see their 
true position. 

130. No man can comprehend that which is above his 
powers, yet all can understand that which is below them. 

131. His spirit longeth continually after that which is 
beyond and above its present attainment. He hath pro- 
gressed in knowledge and happiness, is still progressing, 
and therefore will progress to all eternity ; for it is impos- 
sible to force a great tree back into its germ-cause, and so 
with the growing spirit, it is ever growing and never 
grown to completion.- 

132. God is illimitable, indestructible, incomprehensible, 
save to himself. 

133. In Him lieth all knowledge and its cause. 

134. In Him lieth perfection. He is the beginning and 
the cause of beginning. 

135. He is love and the cause of love in all his crea- 
tion. 

136. Space is but as a flood of love and light in which 
float the numberless bodies which are but the outside 
evidence of the love and light. 

137. Yet man in his wisdom hath called this the crea- 
tion ; being content with outside evidence, he hath lost 
sight of the great and still simple truths which the num- 
berless bodies floating in space reveal. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 85 

138. Whence came those bodies ? Of what are they the 
result ? 

139. The harmony of their perfect action proves them to 
be the fruit of Love, and their existence proveth that there 
was supreme Intelligence or Light manifested in their 
formation ; hence are they from the hand of the Creator of 
these causes, God. 

140. Love being the most powerful cementing essence, 
binding kind unto its kindred, producing harmony and re- 
moving discord, is thus of God, and from him receiveth 
strength. 

141. Light, being the essence of all wisdom, spirit, or 
instinct, and having power at all times to refute error and 
lead unto truth, having power over darkness, is therefore 
one of God's pure causes. 

142. Love doth not create itself, neither doth light with- 
out a cause exist. These with their fruits all combine 
and center in the great and good first cause, the I Am, 
essence of all — ruler over all, the supreme, ever-living 
God. 

143. The Great One, center and circumference, begin- 
ning and ending. Unto all mysterious, yet lovely ; grand, 
yet simple in all his ways. 

144. Pure beyond conception is the love which floweth 
from this sweet fountain, and blessed are they that quench 
thirst thereat. 

145. Oh, man i this stream runneth through thee, and 
giveth joy celestial in its passage. Turn to it and drink 
freely, for blessings unnumbered will it give. 

146. Let it flow unto thy thirsty kind ; be not a barrier 
unto a Father's kindness, but rather act in unison with him, 
and oh ! great will be thy reward. 

147. Live and love as God, and high in the eternal Home 
shalt thou rest, and in purer smiles and richer enjoyments 
dwell continually. 

148. Thou canst ascend unto the fountain even while yet 
unon earth, for God's love and his light and his truth ex- 



86 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

tend everywhere; and in these essences canst thou ascend 
and meet thy Father, who with open arms will receive and 
bless thy returning spirit. 

149. Thou hast gone out into the harvest to labor. His 
is the wheat; His tools are given thee to work with; all 
thy glory dependeth upon how many sheaves thou bringest 
home with thee in the end of the day. 

150. If thou dost idle away thy time, when night cometh, 
and thou art required to give an account of thy day's la- 
bor, behold thou art empty, and so will be the reward, 
for thou art worthy of thy hire, and hast fixed thy own 
price. 

151. Think not that thou canst be idle, and still gain a 
reward. It can not be done. God labored to create thee, 
and is he not worthy of his hire as well as thee? And 
what is his hire, save thy faithful labor in his own harvest, 
which he hath designed for the employment of thy exalted 
powers? 

152. In thy existence thou hast need of labor. Thou 
canst, not exist without it; for God, the cause of all exist- 
ence, is active, and did labor to bring forth from Chaos his 
own Creation ; and that which his laws regulate must of 
necessity be in harmony with him. 

153. God asks of thee the rendering of a just account of 
all that is intrusted unto thy keeping. 

154. Thy own spirit must give its actions, thoughts, and 
all unto which they lead, as His recompense for its creation. 
He is supremely just, and if unto him thou art faithful, the 
heavens and the earth will pass away ere unhappiness can 
cross thy path. 

155. Thy Father in heaven worketh only for good. His 
actions are manifested in the outer lovely and lovino- 
creation. 

156. Thy field of action is Man. In him thou must la- 
bor, and the result is the regulator of thy reward. 

157. Let all of thy actions be in harmony with those of 
thy Father, and he will assist thee always. Thou wilt at 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 87 

all times have sufficient strength and wisdom given thee to 
overcome and make plain the difficult duties, and wherever 
thou goest, and whatever thou doest, will be in God's name, 
and give him all glory. 

158. In man, thy brother, wilt thou find a broad and 
barren tract laid before thee. This must have the weedy 
desires and the rocky passions removed ; the forests of 
error and the swamps of despair removed, and in their 
places must be grown lovely flowers, nourishing fruits, and 
mighty truths and glorious light fill up the blank and 
noisome places in his spirit. 

159. The flesh hath encroached upon the spirit. Dark- 
ness hath entered the path where light were wont to guide. 

160. Hatred, envy, and unkindness have almost choked 
out the fragrant flowers of love. 

161. And error, superstition, and bigotry have assumed 
the garb of truth, and in their uncouthness have frightened 
the earnest seeker from its sweet simplicity. 

162. Then behold thy labor spread out before thee. 

163. Light removeth darkness, therefore Light one an- 
other. 

164. Love removeth all unkindness, therefore Love one 
another. 

165. Truth removeth error, superstition, and bigoted 
feelings ; then preach and practice the truth. 

166. This doth God ; thou art in his image ; go thou and 
do likewise ; for in this is all goodness, and this giveth thee 
heaven even upon earth. 

167. This is loving thy Father supremely, and thy Brother 
as thyself. 

168. This giveth thee sheaves in abundance, whose fruit 
angels will enjoy when thou takest them home. 

169. And thy Father will sound in thy ear the greatest 
of all reward — "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, 
thou didst labor in darkness ; in Light shalt thou see thy 
reward. Thou didst labor in unkindness, and in Love be- 
hold thy joy given. Thou didst war with error, and behold 



88 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

here in my presence the perfection of the truth which sus- 
tained thee in thy numberless trials." 

170. Thus sayeth the laborer's Father, and here is the 
perfection of all fought for, and the absence of all warred 
against. Here is God's presence, well earned by a good 
and faithful life, enjoyed unto all eternity. 

171. Oh, how easy the labor and how great the re- 
ward ! 

172. Oh, Man ! can earth recompense thee for idleness, 
or can its treasures buy one of God's divine rays to shine 
upon thee? 

173. Let thy erring brother rave and scoff at and spit 
upon thee ; thou must forgive and love him. With his Fa- 
ther is his account to be settled, and within himself is the 
witness that shall condemn him. 

174. Thou art thy own judge, not thy brother's, there- 
fore be very careful lest thou dost imitate his ways instead 
of thy Father's. For if thou dost judge him, what better 
art thou than him when he judges thee? 

175. Thy brother's error is no excuse ; thine belongs to 
thee. 

176. God doth not judge by neglects, but by fulfillments. 

177. Then he that fulfills his own destiny is not con- 
demned ; while he that does not, writes his own condemna- 
tion. 

178. And when thy brother, by his own neglect, con- 
demneth himself, do not therefore condemn thyself, but 
rather imitate God thy Father, and be good and loving 
unto all. 

179. Oh, preserve thy own independence of thought and 
action, monuments unto God's glory, for they are the repre- 
sentatives of his pure spirit upon earth. 

180. Do thou go fearlessly unto thy own duty, and thus 
by thy example show thy brother his pathway unto his 
Father's house. 

181. God's love continually loveth, is not the changeful, 
fitful thing which man in his folly would represent, but the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 89 

one grand eternal principle by which all things, from the 
atom unto Deity, are bound together in unison. 

182. God's light is the immeasurable and uncontrollable 
essence in whose pure depths Life findeth its birth. This 
is not idle ; it continually reporteth unto its Creator the har- 
mony of his Creation ; giveth him in its returning floods 
joy pure and holy. It is as the eye of Deity which pierceth 
every household, uncovering the deeds of the Godly and 
the ungodlike before the mind with which it cometh in 
contact. 

183. Oh, Man ! why seek to smother thy light, and thus 
hide thyself in thy own darkness from the eye of thy kind 
and loving Father ? 

184. Set it forth firmly, fearlessly ; yet in all places and 
at all times let love prompt its action, for separated they 
can not exist, because they have been created to unite in 
their work of elevation. 

185. Light and Love, the intelligent eye and kind heart 
of God, twin sisters in holiness, decorate the brow of their 
stern brother Truth with Heaven's choicest garlands. 

186. Their kindness and their wisdom make the rugged 
coast and sandy desert bloom as heavenly resting-places 
unto the journey er unto Truth's kingdom. 

187. Their sweetness and their beautiful colors awaken 
the dying rose, and make it bloom fresh and pure as though 
an angel had dropped it in its passage through the heavens 
to please a favorite child on earth. 

188. Their subtile power crosses the Philosopher's path, 
and builds mysteries which his outer brain can not fathom. 

189. Their simple purity enchanteth every beholder, 
and puts to shame the wordy temples erected by worldly 
divines. 

190. They make manifest God in all their actions, and 
man must find his truths within their silent depths or go 
hungering away. 

191. They speak unto man in thrilling tones, making his 
spirit vibrate as the harp-strings to the gentle zephyr ; and 



90 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

at every beautiful strain purity is attracted, until at length 
she comes and dwells within the vibrating spirit in har- 
mony. 

192. The mysteries of Creation lie hidden in the depths 
of these pure essences, simple and eternally active. 

193. Man, if thou wouldest be wise, heed well the Light, 
and love thy Creator supremely, and thy brother-man as 
thyself. 

194. The light will reveal unto thee the simplicity of 
God's truth, and thus give thy spirit of his own pure food 
to nourish thee. 

195. Oh, beware of darkness and the dark in spirit ; the 
truth is not in them, and if thou goest unto them for food 
thou wilt go away einpty ! 

196. If darkness can furnish pleasure and life, give an 
eternity of happiness, why did God say, " Let there be 
Light," or why doth light remove it without and within? 

197. The sum of dark thoughts, the point unto which all 
darkness of spirit tends, and of which all erroneous ways 
are but avenues leading unto, is the opposite of God, the 
opposite of goodness, the opposite of his divine rays man- 
ifested in his love and his light; and as these show unto 
the searcher in their bright truths that God is the Great I 
Am, so does the sum of darkness show in its sable folds 
that God does not exist unto the perception of the worship- 
ers of Chaos. 

198. There is but one darkness, and this is the absence of 
light. 

199. Oh, ye who wander darkling among the shades of 
night, whence cometh your perception of the different de- 
grees of its blackness ? Ye can not, without light, under- 
stand your own darkness ! 

200. And therefore is light greater than darkness, for the 
revealer is greater than the revealed. 

201. Darkness in man's spirit is, turning from the light 
within him and searching among the things without for the 
truths of God's creating. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 91 

202. Truths not understood do man no good. 

203. Within the spirit of God's children is his own 
breath breathed, giving them the knowledge of truth and 
error, which will ask in every action, "Art thou right?" 
aud if heeded will always show the direct pathway unto 
Deity. 



CHAPTER II. 

1. Is there a God % 

2. There is existence, and it hath a cause. Causes all 
tend to one center, and from it are seen to diverge, spread- 
ing their rays unto the outer circumference. 

3. From this circumference we see that they tend inward, 
converging toward the point ; thus in man, the body, the 
life, and spirit, three mighty strides toward the living 
center, and the center lieth still within, for the spirit hath 
a cause of necessity more intelligent than itself, for the 
effect is less intelligent than its cause ; and thus from less 
to greater intelligence, establishing a line of progression, 
we can in imagination arrive at the point where all pro- 
gress toward and none pass beyond. 

4. This is the fountain whence the causes flow in har- 
mony, producing resultant harmonious truths, which in 
their turn, show forth, in countless variations, the power, 
goodness, and love actuating the one grand center of cen- 
ters, the cause of all causes, pure beyond conception of 
aught produced thereby. 

5. This is God, the living and loving Creator of all 
things, the supreme Father. In Heaven and Earth, in 
space and its inhabitants, everywhere and at all times 
known by his fruits to be producer of good and enduring 
seed, known by his effects to be the one pure Cause 
of all. 

6. The center is not inactive, but is continually in mo- 
tion, doing good in all upon whom fall its divine rays. 

7. Do not imagine that God is stern and unkind, for is 
not the spirit of man more loving than the animals that do 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS 93 

not enjoy his elevation, and then is not God far more lov- 
ing than man's most rapturous joy can picture ? 

8. Oh, yes, children of the living God, he is indeed the 
perfection of all goodness and holiness, and oh, strive to 
repay him for your existence by imitating his holy ways ! 

9. Let not dark philosophical teachings in their outer 
demonstrations mar the pure serenity of thy inner light. 
Let thy God claim all thy thoughts, and thus strive to rec- 
ompense him for giving thee power to think. 

10. Thou hast thy pay in the act of thinking ; then let 
the resultant actions be wholly and solely God's. 

11. Error hath erected its own God. Being short-sighted 
and imperfect it hath, after its own mind, erected the Idol, 
and poor deluded man hath worshiped. 

12. Chaos brought from out her depths light and life at 
God's command. Yet had he not commanded they had 
not existed ; being in existence, and God being perfect, 
they can not be annihilated. 

13. Error hath set up an opposite of God. of heaven, and 
of an eternal life. 

14. There are two powers, or one and its opposite ; but 
as the one increases, the other diminishes ; and as God is 
the perfection of the one, its opposite must be but that 
which is termed Chaos. 

15. If in the creation there can be one atom destroyed, 
then is the whole imperfect. When error hath accom- 
plished this destruction, then, and not until then, will it 
have a firm foundation, and will need its own destroying 
God, and its own reign will be perfect. 

16. Man, by viewing the outward with contracted vision, 
sees life and death, so termed, blending in all things, and 
yet hath drawn the erroneous conclusion that there is a 
living embodiment of destruction, a home for this being, 
and food as terrible as himself. 

17. If God said, " Let there be Light," and life is caused 
by light, which is proven by the barrenness of darkness, 
then can there be no life independent of him. 



94 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

18. "When presumptuous man useth his individuality to 
try and substantiate the existence of a being which would 
re-create chaos by its very existence, it were far better that 
he had never been born than to thus live in vain. 

19. Oh, how weak is man ! And yet how noble and 
high could he be did he learn of truth and dwell in love, 
did he follow God and forsake the temples of error. 

20. Did he need proof of the love and kindness of his 
Father in Heaven, it would seem sufficient that while not 
following in the paths of truth and righteousness he is still 
permitted to exist and enjoy his own perversion. 

21. Still permitted to be a monument unto his Father's 
love and mercy, and thus in his very perversion proving 
that God is indeed good and worthy of all imitation. 

22. God is not changed by man. 

23. He may be misrepresented, and His child by way- 
wardness may injure himself, yet the pure and eternal One 
remain eth the same unto all eternity. 

24. The duties of man are as varied as themselves. 
Their organizations all being different, and duty being but 
a result of organization, each and every one must have a 
different sphere of action. 

25. Individuality is thus obtained and thus proven to 
exist. All are thus their own independent monuments 
unto God's glory, yet all builded by the hand of God, and 
in a measure dependent upon him. 

26. Below Him there is nothing perfect as Himself. All 
being His fruits are good ; all produced by love, and by 
love blended and united throughout the whole creation ; 
depending upon one another merely as God's love is mani- 
fested in them, and thus only truly and entirely dependent 
upon him. 

27. Man's departure from this love clepriveth him of the 
strength which unity giveth. Without God's love there is 
no unity, and can be no harmony, neither strength. 

28. Love must cement that which lasts, for there is no 
lasting thing without it. It is folly to unite in any save 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 95 

the bonds of God's love, for in such unity God is not 
glorified. 

29. If you unite in the flesh, what credit have ye when 
the flesh returneth whence it came? There is only the 
more darkness to overcome. But when in love you unite, 
then in the fullness of God's light you will receive strength, 
and be equal unto all the powers that can oppose your 
progress. 

30. God being perfect can only be glorified by the 
agency of his own attributes. Flesh pots, or dead bodies 
in their stench, though they are outwardly useful unto 
creation — for there is nothing wasted — do not appear half 
so lovely, or are not half so acceptable, as the living, 
burning light within. 

31. Man is an emblem of creation — the cap which beau- 
tifies the column. He hath light and darkness, life and 
death, Deity and chaos, represented within his own being. 

32. Death is his tribunal, light his judge — and Deity 
holdeth within his hand the just reward. 

33. Life holdeth before the light his actions, and the 
decision is according as the deeds performed. 

34. Chaos yieldeth her picture in evidence, for every 
good action of the life hath drawn a light line upon her 
dark face. 

35. Beware of the dark colors, for they do not show in 
the perfect darkness, and the time thus wasted maketh an 
unfinished picture that shall condemn thee. 

36. Dip thy pencil in the fountain wherein is God's own 
pure light, and with it draw and color firmly the scenes of 
thy life, and behold at the tribunal thou shalt see it adorn- 
ing the most favored portions of thy Father's House. 

37. Light attracteth light, and darkness loveth darkness. 

38. If life be by light revealed, darkness is thereby re- 
pulsed; yet if darkness reveal the life, light is thereby re- 
pulsed, and the future progress of the spirit thus rendered 
more gloomy and slow than if the light were attracted. 

39. The spirit which hath eyed the light, and acted in 



06 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

love while in the body, making manifest God's pure truth, 
hath established an affinity for the light, and can approach 
it rapidly when freed from outside influences, to dwell in 
its own pure depths unto all eternity. 

40. If dark thoughts have prompted actions darker than 
themselves, and the life become stained with black images, 
then is an affinity for darkness and error formed which it 
is indeed hard to break. 

41. Thus while the light attracteth toward its purity, the 
opposite attracteth toward its impurity, thus retarding the 
homeward passage of the poor benighted child of error. 

42. Light in man being the emblem or the essence of 
the light without, visible by reflection to the outer eye of 
man, and this essence being the germ of thought and its 
resultant actions — being the moving power of man — there- 
fore is the outer light the moving power of the outer 
bodies and substances of the whole creation, from the atom 
up to man. 

43. When God said, " Let there be Light," the essence 
of the light within his own pure spirit produced and gave 
laws unto the light without, which was but the result of 
its active essence. 

44. Thus the circling motion of Deity's holy thoughts 
giveth as a result the numberless circling orbs that illumi- 
nate the vast space comprehensible only unto the spirit of 
the great and good Producer. 

45. The actions of the perfect Creator are seen in the 
varied yet harmonious actions of the universal creation. 
The outer is but the embodiment of the inner, and hence 
how supremely wise and loving must be the grand Source 
whose condensed thoughts are countless heavenly bodies ! 

46. Oh, who save Himself can understand His ways ? 

47. Thou holy and eternal Father, whom we love yet 
can not comprehend, oh, grant that in doing thy will we 
may merit thy presence and communion. Oh, let us not 
live in vain! Let us with words of living light make 
manifest unto thy children thy supreme love and mercy. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 97 

Oh, Father, grant thy wayward children may see and know 
thee as thou art, even as an hungering parent who longeth 
to restore them to happiness and peace. Father, they are 
perishing in darkness, they will not heed the light; oh, 
give strength and holiness unto thy poor instruments, that 
the erring may hear and see that thou art indeed pure be- 
3'ond conception, loving beyond measure. Oh, Father, we 
would not dictate unto thee, and know thou seest all ; yet, 
Father, the pent-up love bursts its bonds, and would fain 
anoint thine holy feet. Oh, strengthen us to a firm re- 
liance upon thee ; permit us in sincerity, truth, and love to 
say, "Thy will be done." We are weakness itself, and oh, 
beside thee we are very poor in wisdom. Oh, let not our 
short-comings dishonor thy name, but let our every thought, 
action, and aspiration be as rays of thy divine purity. 
Father, sustain us in our labor with thy own powerful arm. 
Give us wisdom, strength, and purity, and oh, grant us hu- 
mility, that our spirits may always remember that of our- 
selves we can do nothing, and thine will be the glory forever. 

48. It is a fearful thing to teach. The secrets of true 
knowledge are hard to find, and when found are hard to 
be explained. 

49. Hard to find, because they tend step by step toward 
the center, God; and hard to be explained, because all 
things are as rays of him, and he can not by aught below 
him be comprehended. 

50. Man hath always striven to trace in from the cir- 
cumference of Nature's objects around him, searching for 
laws of government from their surfaces, and thus classify- 
ing outsides and drawing imperfect conclusions. He should 
first open the channel of his central communication with 
the Fountain of all wisdom, and thus be enabled to view 
the central powers of Nature's numerous host with an en- 
lightened understanding. 

51. He hath labored a long life to produce that which 
death hath shown him to be void of truth. Material eyes 
were constructed to view matter, and thus save the inner 

7 



98 THE HEALING OF THE 1TATI0NS. 

power of the eye and man from constant contact with it ; 
yet God never intended that only the outside eye should 
be used, that only the body should be fed, but intended it 
to be the living proof of the inner existence. 

52. Welling up from the great and pure fountain cometh 
the Light-Divine ; penetrating all centers, producing all 
life, quickening all germs, feasting all intelligence, and 
spreading its rays unto the outer circumference of the 
numberless objects in nature, it completeth its circle by 
again concentrating its rays in the fruit produced, which 
again receives life-blood from Deity, and again rolls around 
its circle, giving God glory in all its existence by the har- 
mony manifested therein. 

53. From God cometh all. All life, as hath been said, 
is but the effect of light. None save God is perfect. Each 
and every one hath within its being that vacancy which 
maketh change necessary. If all were perfect there could 
be no change, for in perfection there is no imperfect attri- 
bute from which change arises. 

54. God created, yet himself changed not. He produced 
all things, yet did not grow ; in all things implanted the 
seed of change or motion, yet over all things is the sole 
and eternal independent Ruler. 

55. Two Gods can not exist, neither can there be three 
Gods. Two perfections would be but one perfect, and 
three would be no more. All perfect attributes are neces- 
sary in one, and if more were allowed to exist they must 
be imperfect, which is an absurdity. 

56. From the atom, up to the Great Creator, all are dif- 
ferent ; all have individuality ; all divide into innumerable 
ones ; and whence can come oneness, save from one per- 
fect Creator ? Disagreement proveth imperfection ; har- 
mony is the fruit of perfection. All the ones of the cre- 
tion harmonize; all are effects; and thus we infer that 
there exists but one central cause from which all flow, and 
by which all are governed. 

57. Man, not being perfect, yet thinking he knew the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 99 

truth, hath made unto himself a god of each attribute of 
Deity, and thus blinded, hath led the blind into his own 
trenches. Whence cometh thy individuality ? Analyze 
thyself, and thou wilt in imperfection find the image of 
the very attributes thou dost worship — yet thou art not 
three, nor yet two — thou art one, and thus the image of 
one Father. 

58. Without a false foundation, false temples can not 
be erected. And thus to remove these dangerous edifices, 
it is best to undermine them at once. There is danger in 
scaling their slippery sides, lest we fall and become crushed 
ourselves. It is not safe to begin at the top, for the wary 
watchers within would not permit stones to be thrown, 
every fall of which tended to destroy their lives, or to 
render them helpless. 

• 5*9. They are built upon sand ; error enthralls them. 
Pour upon the sandy foundations the divine waters of 
Truth, and the dreadful weight above shall sink them for- 
ever beneath the surface. All things brought to the res- 
cue will but increase the weight and render the destruction 
more sure, for error can not help sustain that which truth 
is sinking. 

60. One grain's weight of pure truth is heavier or of 
more weight than all the error man hath ever created. 

61. Oh, could man see and believe this, how much more 
happiness and purity would he enjoy! Error vaunteth it- 
self. Truth is honest and simple, yet is the corner-stone 
upon which God's own Throne standeth. 

62. How often are long lives spent in wasting talents 
that should glorify their Creator ! Body, mind, and even 
spirit itself, are made subservient unto low desires ! In- 
stead of communing with Angelic companions, and feast- 
ing in the light of divine wisdom, how often do they stoop, 
and in the darkened crowd of misled children, grovel in 
filthy, corrupting passions ! 

63. And such are honored of men ! The blinded can 
not see that they are led by the blind, who call, " Lo! here 



100 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

is light, come and see ;" and they not seeing, go, and in 
going lose the power to see, and all is darkness. 

64. There is sufficient light for all, and all have suffi- 
cient unto their own need, which, if used, must elevate 
themselves and their brethren. 

05. The blind submission of man unto the might of out- 
side power, and his fear of its punishment, hath kept his 
spirit in bondage. 

66. The bound spirit putteth the body in chains. 

67. As God is free, so must man become ere earth can 
be worthy of his divine presence. Free from error, clean 
and transparent in the sight of his Father, noble and God- 
like in his bearing, and from his mouth flow forth tones of 
living wisdom, unto which Deity can listen as unto a wor- 
thy companion. 

68. And why not, oh, man ! why not render thyself wor- 
thy of this high position ? Thou hast the power of aspiring, 
which is the seed from which springeth the longed-for re- 
ality, and if true unto thyself, thou canst attract, not only 
angels bright and holy, but the pure One, in whom center 
all pure essences, will approach, and bless, and purify thy 
spirit with his Divine presence. 

69. Oh, how thou clingest unto error ! Rank supersti- 
tion holds thee, hypocrisy binds thee, and bigotry whips 
thee as with many cords ! The son and child of God a 
slave unto flesh ! A ruler in the Heavens serving upon 
earth ! The noblest of God's works polluted, degraded, 
wallowing in filth, whilst in the high and holy mansions 
of his Father his appointed tenement is unoccupied ! 

TO. Was it for this thou wert created ? Whence came 
those exalted powers thy slavery of spirit rendereth use- 
less? Whence thy high and pure aspirations? Oh, do 
believe that only these purities ornament thee in the sight 
of Gocl, and cast from thee the baubles that pass away with 
thy fleshy tabernacle. 

71. Know, oh, Man, that every thought is recorded in 
thy own light, and in thy own circle is revealed unto the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 101 

sight of God. Thought is eternal as thy own spirit, and 
as thou thinkest so dost thou plant seed, which, if holy, 
will bring forth actions which will render thy sphere most 
acceptable unto God. 

72. The spirit must grow, and divine intelligence is its 
nourishing food. Love of God sustains its faltering steps, 
and truth lendeth a firm yet willing hand. 

73. Man, thou art an eternal being, fed by eternal food, 
nourished by draughts of enduring strength, and of these 
thou must partake to fulfill thy destiny. 

74. Do not all things on earth pass away ? Yesterday 
they were, to-day are not ; then can an immortal spirit find 
food therein ? Immortality hath only congeniality for that 
which is unchangeable unto ail eternity. There is but one 
unchangeable Being, and hence all food for spirit's suste- 
nance must be found within His own pure attributes. 

75. Why feed upon that which createth hunger, even as 
thou dost partake of it ? 

76. Below there can not be food for that which is 
above. 

77. All things on earth are below thee. There is no 
spirit save thine on earth. There is life and instinct, yet 
no self-controlling spirit save thy own. Thou canst com- 
mune with thy brother-spirit, and if it be more fully de- 
veloped thou canst receive food ; yet if below thy devel- 
opment, thou wilt go hungering away. And where can 
food come from save from above ? 

78. Spirit being an eternal essence, can not be nourished 
by matter. The breath of Deity can not inflate material 
lungs. The Light of His divine atmosphere can not enter 
outward eyes, and his voice can not by outer ears be heard. 

79. Spirit of man is the child of God. His body is the 
child of earth, yet therefrom produced by God, who in his 
production created the laws for his reproduction. 

80. The body being created from the earth, must re- 
ceive its nourishment therefrom ; and as there is in all 
things the seed of death, which is necessary to reproduc- 



102 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

tion, so in man is death of the body implanted at his con- 
ception. 

81. At death of the outer body the true life of the inner 
spirit commenceth. 

82. As in life it hath followed the path of its Father's 
lighting, so in death is the seed of eternal life quickened by 
the effulgent glory of the light perfected. 

83. As on earth it strove for the true life, so in Heaven 
are the seeds thus planted permitted to bloom and give 
forth celestial fragrance. 

84. Oh, strive for the true life. Plant -and nourish holy 
seed, making thy portion of thy Father's vineyard worthy 
of his own enjoyment. 

85. All life is of God — all death but his quickening at- 
tribute which in the outer prepareth the path for his life 
to enter ; thus to give the dead life, and from the life his 
return receive. 

86. Can death glorify God ? Can corruption give beauty 
and comeliness to the beholder ? Then if ye labor among 
the dead, and can not give life unto them, of what avail is 
your labor ? 

87. God doth not search for the living among the dead. 
He alone imparteth life, and He alone can quicken. 
Among the spirits of men must spirit labor to be exalted 
of God. 

88. If ye labor among the dead, when called by your 
Father from the vine} 7 ard, you will be covered with stink- 
ing filth, and behold all your labor hath been in vain, for 
you could not impart life, and your reward is lost ! 

89. If unto the outside cares you give the life then as 
they pass away with your body, is not the spirit barren as 
when the vineyard was entered ? 

90. Whereas if in the light within you ye have labored, 
giving God, your Creator, glory, then in the fullness of His 
light are ye glorified. As ye labor for God so do His holy 
attributes labor for your own exaltation. 

91. All of God's holy attributes are implanted in the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 103 

suirit of man. These work out the will of their Creator if 
not hindered by the individuality of the possessor. By 
the perverseness of man by his outer education they can 
be kept, as it were, in a state of idleness, yet they ever 
live, and must eventually rule his actions. 

92. Ignorance and selfishness have constantly encroached 
upon the spirit's privileges. Its ways are peace. Its voice 
gentle and loving. It shrinks from tumult, and in the 
silent and fervent prayer ascends unto its Father for sym- 
pathy. By selfish, and, consequently, ignorant man, its 
voice is unheeded, as he whirls along the beaten track 
toward his end of earth ; yet when the end cometh in 
view, and the far-off shadow is a dread reality, then pass- 
eth before him the vanity of a wasted life ; then in the 
dread silence is heard that still, small voice, and oh, how 
mournful its sound ! 

93. The spirit hath on earth a hard warfare. Fighting 
the good fight in its own household, yet always striving to 
benefit others as well as itself thereby. 'Tis hard to govern 
unruly inherited passions, whilst all outside influences seem 
to conspire against the light within. 

94. How very little time is taken for its benefit. 

95. It must inspire good actions, prompt holy deeds, and 
in all things strive to glorify its Creator, and often behold 
all of its good intentions frustrated, and its very prompt- 
ings used to gratify unholy passions and exalt selfishness. 

96. If true through the dark passage, if it continually 
eyes the light within itself, and is thereby at all times 
guided through the surrounding darkness, then indeed is 
the true fight fought, and the great reward obtained. 

97. The Holy One looketh down through the centers of 
His creation, and seeth harmony everywhere exhibited. 

98. The remotest body in space hath its central essence 
connected with Him, and is thus the evidence of His glory 
to its fullest power and extent. He hath a witness in every 
atom in the universe. And what avail were these evi- 
dences and these witnesses were there not intelligence to 



104: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

comprehend them ? and if intelligence lie idle, of what 
avail is it, or what credit hath its Creator and Bestower ? 

99. Intelligence in man is the result of active powers 
which the intelligence of his God created. If the powers 
be clogged and hindered, the intelligence is thus compara- 
tively less than were they actively employed. 

100. If they be kept active, their capacity is expended 
and more intelligence obtained. 

101. Through him the intelligence of God passes, as it 
were, giving life to his energies, and showing itself in his 
individuality separate and distinct from all other individual 
intelligence, yet blending with all in its sphere of purity. 

102. If the organization or powers of individuality be 
kept pure, then the intelligence can be relied on, and wili 
carry with it the impress of its divine nature. If not per- 
mitted to pass thus freely, then it must creep out and reveal 
itself in the actions of the selfish individual. 

103. Who can be selfish and deceive God ? Is it not his 
intelligence passing through them, and can not he separate 
his own purity from their selfish impurity ? 

104. He knoweth all. The shades cast on light's pure 
face by the surrounding darkness are familiar to His all- 
seeing eye. 

105. He can not be blinded or misled by man. All 
wanderings note themselves, all goodness elevates His 
child, and in either case they are by divine intelligence 
stamped upon the mind of Deity. 

106. Can earth repay one who hath by unfaithfulness 
turned away from God ? The barren love darkness, but 
the fruitful love the light. There is no enjoyment in dark- 
ness, else had light never removed it, for God doth not 
remove or change that which is good. 

107. Behold a child of Purity, a true Man, the son of 
God. He is a transparent being. His individuality does 
not check the pure intelligence in its passage. 

108. He walks among men unobserved. His wajs are 
peaceful when duty does not call for activity. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 105 

109. To himself the divine light floweth unobstructed, 
and through him it passeth in purity. 'Tis the light of 
his eye, the wisdom of his mouth, and the sweet, joyous 
strains unto which his enchanted spirit loveth to listen. 

110. It descendeth as a shaft of living light into his 
spirit, and, illuminating the temple in which it dwells, 
sends out rays of brilliant glory unto all observers. 

111. His vision is purified. He looks at the Creation 
with an enlarged understanding. Seeth naught but purity 
and harmony blending in all things. 

112. To his eye all is lovely. The delicate flower show- 
eth unto him the love which brought it forth ; the mighty 
tree is to his vision but evidence of his Father's good laws 
of production ; the rocky mountain mass, the lovely plain, 
the purling brook, and mighty river, or the deep roar of the 
boundless ocean, all and every one, unto his purified gaze, 
are beautiful evidences of the goodness and enduring love 
of God. 

113. He looketh in the pure light in which his Father's 
eye beheld his creation, and then pronounced it " Good." 

114. His purity is used by Deity to behold his works. 

115. Every breeze carrieth unto his sense of smell its 
load of pure incense, fans his sense of feeling, and soothes 
him as a gentle mother doth her fondly loved infant. 

116. No discord reaches his ear ; all is counteracted by 
the outward-flowing harmony. He becometh familiar with 
the pure tones w T ithin, and naught without can drown them 
or sully their sweetness. 

117. Over the Earth his senses wander guided by purity, 
and they revel in holy joy among its bright and lovely 
scenes. 

118. He turneth toward the Heavens, his longed-for home, 
and the light bursteth forth in new joy, for here is its fount, 
here it resteth, and with the happiness that all created use 
in seeking home, it boundeth on its way. 

119. To his vision now cometh his Father's Throne. An- 
gelic hosts smile down upon him ; and oh, in their midst 



106 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

standeth one who bendeth down his gaze and sheddeth 
around him the holy light of Divine favor. 

120. To his ear cometh, in tones so soft and sweet that 
his enraptured spirit weeps for joy, "Laborer, behold thy 
reward. This bright crown, formed of thy own high aspi- 
rations, wreathed by angelic hands, is for thee to wear in 
my presence unto all eternity. Thou art worthy by faith- 
fulness, and by purity ennobled. Humilty hath exalted 
thee unto the high position, and with thee am I well 
pleased." 

121. And again the Angels sing, making the heavens 
resound with their sweet tones of loving praise unto his 
holy name. 

122. Such the Earth, and such the Heavens reveal unto 
the gaze of the purity-attracting spirit. 

123. Duty, however irksome to others, is easy unto him. 

124. The spirit of God worketh through him, and noth- 
ing so disagreeable or uncongenial as to sully this pure 
helpmeet. 

125. Calmly, serenely happy within, no jarring without 
can affect him. He hath no affinity for discord ; his calm- 
ness repels it, and it shuns him as an enemy. 

126. Oh, what an enviable position ! yet how few seek 
earnestly to obtain it. 

127. When obtained it is never lost. The spirit who 
hath seen the bright and glorious home, or who hath viewed 
the fruits of Deity in his own light, can not descend among 
the transient things of earth, and with darkened vision seek 
for happiness and peace. 

12S. Heaven's glory lasteth. God's light is eternal. 
And whosoever partaketh thereof can never forget the 
sweetness of the draught. 



CHAPTER III. 

1. God's light is not confined unto his own presence, and 
by high encompassing walls barred from his children on 
earth ; but freedom unto it is given, and not only Heaven, 
but boundless space is filled with the rays thereof. 

2. "Wherever is attraction for it, there is it found. 

3. With His child on earth, earnest, sincere desire, with 
an humbleness of spirit, always produceth, as a result, a 
vacancy of self, which is supplied by the holy light and 
love of God. 

4. If this vacancy be not' created, light can not be sup- 
plied ; and if created, God alone can check his light from 
filling it to overflowing. 

5. This is the Philosophy of Prayer. 

6. The humble spirit seeth its unworthiness ; being hin- 
dered and cramped for room in its narrow cell, it falls upon 
its last and only resource, in agony asking for light. 

7. Asking in humility that which is good, is creating in 
the fleshy temple a vacuum which the light within, being 
weary and exhausted, can not fill, hence in floweth that 
which is attracted, even the pure light of God. 

8. Flesh can not pray; teeth, tongue, and lips can not 
attract the life-giving light; neither can they strengthen 
the weary light within ; they are governed by it, and conse- 
quently constantly exhaust it, whilst its only food is that 
which cometh from above its present. 

9. The purest and sweetest food floweth directly from the 
Father. Oh, children, beware of those who would limit 
the power of your Heavenly Father. They would fain 
thrust the sweet draught from your lips ; they would fain 



108 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

keep you in darkness. Oh, guard well your own God- 
given privileges ! Heed only his light ; follow only his 
teachings, and boundless glory awaits you. 

10. Oh, when you feel that dread hollo wness or dead- 
ness within, fear not to fall at your Father's feet, and the 
result will prove unto your spirit that none go from Him 
hungering away ! 

11. He is just. There is no desire but what is a result 
of powers of his creating, and, having created them, is he 
incapable of their gratification % 

12. In man there are not privileges which allow him to 
measure Deity's designs, and when this is attempted, know 
that of a certainty error hath prompted it. 

13. The ways of Perfection must always be mysterious 
and incomprehensible unto imperfection ; and the more 
imperfect, the more mystery. 

14. To those whom error leads, the trusting dependence 
of the truth-loving is mysterious. Having never experi- 
enced that God is not afar off, they look for Him and his 
Throne with outer eyes, and not seeing him or it in the 
dim distance, conclude there is no such in existence. 

15. They would limit the speed, strength, and purity, by 
measuring God's light in their own vessels. Thus 'tis to 
them very strange that the prayer of the humble martyr 
quencheth the torturing fire and filleth the departing spirit 
with hymns of holy joy. 

16. From the central essence of spirit riseth the humble 
prayer. The outward agony seemeth to be too hard for 
spirit to bear. Strength is waning, and from it bursts 
forth, "Help, Father; save thy child." 

17. It is enough. From His holy hand descendeth, as a 
ball of joyous light, peace and happinesss ; it bursteth 
within the seeking spirit, and poureth to the outer cir- 
cumference its holy balm ; and the agony is removed by 
the hand of God. The end is permitted ; the flames en- 
croach until the connecting link is severed, and the illumi- 
nated one is freed forever. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 109 

18. How simple, when understood ! 

19. When chained to the stake, with the crackling and 
blazing fagots piled high around thee, whence could come 
from without a power to check the pain ? Of what avail 
all outward sympathy ? If outer hands quenched the fire, 
inner spirits would first prompt the action. God never 
forsakes the trusting spirit, but in time of greatest need is 
ever most ready to aid his child. 

20. Naught can encompass or overleap his power ; and 
if not understood, is nevertheless unlimited. 

21. There is in the Creation no unsupplied desire. 

22. The various wants of the outer creation are supplied 
by God through the channel of laws created therefor. 

23. The thirsting flower and sparkling dew-drop mu- 
tually destroy their own wants. The sandy Desert and 
boundless Ocean create and supply wants of the earth. 
The high and barren mountain, the lovely plain, attract 
from the earth's great reservoir the sweet, refreshing show- 
er which restoreth harmony by supplying the vacancy of 
want. 

24. All is arranged by harmonious principles ; all gov- 
erned by them, and they by their Creator. 

25. Man is not an exception to this harmonious arrange- 
ment. 

26. His Individuality, though exalted, can not limit the 
bountiful love of God. 

27. As all nature asks for its supply by its own want, so 
do the wants of Man, through the channels of pure love, 
draw down Heaven's pure light in abundant supply, even 
while asking. 

28. In Nature, want must precede supply. In man, ask- 
ing must precede answering. 

29. His Heavenly Father knoweth every want, yet 
wasteth not his food. He that will not ask is not humble 
enough to receive thankfully or use rightfully. 

30. There are those, styled Philosophers, who believe 
not in prayer ; they think all below Deity is regulated by 



110 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

laws which to them seem beyond his own control. They 
think to measure and regulate Infinity with finite powers ! 

31. If God hath created, in the act he hath imparted 
boundary unto his creation. And if he hath limited his 
creation, is he not master of that limitation ? 

32. Man, the highest on Earth, is limited, yet, as hath 
been said, master of his own limitation ; and should he 
then deny powers unto his Maker which he himself is but 
a living monument unto ? 

33. There is power to pray, and God hath power over 
his creation. Prayer is a result of powers or privileges, 
and hence can He answer all prayers by an exercise of the 
privilege which his supreme power giveth. 

31. "What folly to condemn that which has never been 
tried. 

35. Those who condemn Prayer are ignorantly striving 
to deprive themselves of their greatest privilege, even that 
of communing with their Father in Heaven. 

36. Taste of the fountain ere thou condemnest that which 
floweth therefrom ; but when thou wouldst approach, leave 
behind all thy selfish desires after worldly exaltation, and 
in sincerity, humility, and entire resignation ask for Wis- 
dom. Thou wilt receive a draught which will drown all 
the silly words thou wouldst utter, and strengthen thee for 
higher attainments and more glorious wisdom. 

37. Those who have tasted of this Heavenly food, never 
condemn it. It is so full in supply, and so nourishing unto 
the poor seeker, that 'tis never forgotten. 

38. The Patriarch looks back to the far-distant days of 
his youth, when friendless, homeless, and helpless he was 
wandering in the trackless desert of Life. 

39. He remembers one, and the first heartfelt, agonizing 
prayer unto his Creator. It was short — it burst forth, un- 
heeded by flesh, " Father, save me, or I perish !" 

40. And as his memory dwells on this brightly-remem- 
bered spot, tears of purest joy course down the time-worn 
lines of his aged face, and the same spirit onereth again 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. Ill 

thanksgiving for the life of peace which this short prayer 
opened the door unto. 

41. That is not prayer which remaineth unanswered. 

42. If thou thinkest thou hast prayed, yet received no 
answer, take heed lest thou art worshiping an Idol of thy 
own creating. 

43. If thou askest of Idols thy own fancy hath builded, 
what canst thou expect in answer above thee ? That which 
thou worshipeth is of thy own creating, and hence below 
thee, and can not elevate thee ! 

44. When thou askest, let it be of thy Creator — thy 
Heavenly Father, for he alone can grant thee that which 
for thee is best. 

45. If thou pray est sincerely and in humility, and yet 
thou dost not feel thou art answered, remember thou hast 
asked of the fountain of wisdom, and perhaps for thy good 
this feeling is permitted. 

46. True prayer seeketh not to know its answer, for in 
the very seeking its design would be frustrated by want of 
humility and sincerity. 

47. If thou askest of God thy duty is performed, the re- 
sult lieth with him. 

48. Thou canst not ask of Him, unless thou dost need, 
and needing will always warrant that thou dost merit that 
which is asked. 

49. Raise high thy aspirations. Seek the feet of thy 
Eternal Father, and solicit his own pure love to dwell 
within thy spirit, and thou wilt not go away empty. 

50. If God, thy Father, useth principles through which 
to assure thee of his love and purity, do not thou fall down 
and worship them. They being but effect of Him and his 
power, being neutral agents, the channel through which 
Intelligence and Love flow are not only secondary unto 
Him, but also unto these pure, loving essences, the Attri- 
butes of Deity. 

51. Principles, Laws, Essences, and Consolidated Es- 
sences, or results thereof, are all effects of One still more 



112 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

pure than they, who hath created them and fixed the com- 
pass of their power. 

52. They can not get beyond his control, for they are but 
an emanation, a result of that Intelligence from which they 
sprang, and surely a result can not surpass its cause in any 
thing. 

53. These are the Machinery of Creation in which the 
power moveth to accomplish the will of Deity, which will 
first accomplish their construction. 

5 ±. Man, however skilled, can not model his own Ideal. 
If he approach it, it fiieth away above and beyond him ; 
and as he followeth on, and still upward, more glorious 
doth the bright vision become, until he seeth it revealed in 
the purity and holiness of the Center whence it came. 

55. Principles must eternally be the same in compass 
and power, eternally working as the directing power will- 
cth ; no progression, no enjoyment, save as given by the 
passage of purity and holiness through them, which purity 
and holiness are separate and distinct from the inanimate 
channels through which they operate. 

56. They are as the shades through which God's bright 
rays pass, only visible by contrast with the light, and by 
its passage purified, or by its absence dense as the darkness 
of Chaos. 

57. Of what were principles if not understood? and how 
could they be understood without an Intelligence superior 
to themselves existed? Is not that which comprehends 
superior to that comprehended ? 

58. Man can, to a certain extent, comprehend principles, 
and to that extent can control them in action ; making them 
imperfectly perform for him what they perfectly accomplish 
for their Perfect Controller. And hence, again, Man's im- 
perfection proveth God's perfection. His imperfect control 
proveth there is perfect control ; and his imperfect under- 
standing proveth there is One who perfectly understands 
all of their actions. 

59. Prayer is unto the poor, tired, and hopeless spirit 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 113 

the essence which floweth out after peace, unmindful of 
aught but its own intense suffering ; it toucheth one of the 
numerous chords vibrating unto the ear of Deity, and all 
danger is removed and all want supplied in the abundance 
of the peace bestowed. 

60. All nature aboundeth with fruits of his divine love. 
The lovely scenery and glowing light shed upon it, the ice- 
bound cliff and snow-capped mountain, the smooth surface 
and dark, deep roar of the mighty ocean, all by their soft- 
ening and blending shades and beauty prove that they are 
the result of an enlightened and living Love. 

61. The bright rays of the summer sun, the bleak howl 
of the winter storm, the soft beams of the pale moon, the 
twinkling of the brilliant stars, or the deep blackness of 
the stormy midnight hour ; all and every one are but the 
outside guards stationed at the portals of the Temple 
wherein pure Love dwelleth. 

62. On the waving boughs of the lofty and graceful tree 
is fastened securely the nest of the mother Bird. By her 
side the loved and fondly-loving mate singeth, and every 1 
joyous note proclaims that happiness their lot is, and love 
their binding tie. 

63. The Eagle's wild scream, and his fiery eye, and 
fiercely-clenching talons, showeth unto the wary seeker 
after unholy spoil, that his offspring are dearer than the 
life that defends them. 

64. The little Lamb is guided to the sweetest pasture on 
the sunny bank, and in danger fiercely defended by its 
ever watchful and loving mother. 

• 65. The Lioness at the approach of danger jcarrieth her 
cub to the safest recess in the den, and then by the side of 
her lord taketh her stand. "Wo unto the one whom an 
unwary step placeth in their power, for their fierceness is 
ten-fold augmented by the burning of their love within. 

66. As the warrior entereth the field of battle, the 
thoughts of a fondly loved home, a dear native land, pass 
through his mind. He sees them changed, the old home- 

8 



114 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

stead in ruins, the inmates slain, the land of promise deso- 
lated, and maddened unto desperation he dealeth harder 
blows, and maketh more deadly assaults. 

67. See that tender Mother, how she loveth the little one 
nestling on her soft bosom — how she caresses it, and how 
its sweet smiles repay her affection. Behold her now — she 
had left the dear one asleep, and returning beholds the 
house in flames ! Spurning control, throwing aside strong 
opposing men, she rushes to the flame-enveloped bed, 
catches therefrom the unharmed treasure, and falls fainting 
from the window into the strong arms of the crowd below. 

68. All are cemented and sustained by the soft, blending 
influence of thy pure Love, oh, thou great and good Cre- 
ator. 

69. In thine own holy presence is it found in purity. 

70. Around thy Throne it circles, and in its soft joy 
myriad angels revel in eternal happiness. Their beings 
drink deep of this delicious liquid, and from them it re- 
turneth thanks in sweetest strains of melody. 

71. This is indeed worth striving for. Love in purity 
bringeth from within itself all that Deity can by his favor 
bestow. It blendeth with his own pure intelligence into 
all that can by spirit be comprehended. 

72. They blend in truth and reveal its strength, and are 
of themselves all truth. 

73. Without Love in the Divine Father, Light or intel- 
ligence had never existed ; and separated from his light 
love were useless and dead. 

74. Light and life precede love ; yet without it isolated 
Individualism would reign in the creation. 

75. Remove love, and every atom in the creation would 
separate from its neighboring atom. The mountains 
would crumble and fall, the earth separate and float from 
its moorings in space, countless brilliant stars would dis- 
solve, separate, and become invisible, channels through 
which it flowed would become dense, separate into atoms, 
and become useless. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 115 

76. Spirit would forsake its encasement, and in the in- 
centering love seek its Father's house, there to be exter- 
minated forever, and behold Deity and Chaos are again 
alone in space, and from him again would have to come the 
command, Let light come forth, and plant and nourish love 
in the newly lighted space. 

77. When light in purest essence within the mind of 
God conceived the idea of creation, Love sustained the 
idea, and it grew and came forth into space, taking form 
and being in harmony with the essences from which it 
resulted. 

78. The indwelling love of the spirit of God was the seed 
from which the love and harmony of the creation grew. 
First within his Holy Spirit it moved ; and as the circling 
light burst forth into the hollow void, the cementing 
essence went forth in unison ; and as one illuminated 
space by removing darkness, the other collected the more 
dense (because less refined) particles into centers, added 
more and more as light grew more and more brilliant, 
until unto the ends of space all was moving as a vast and 
mighty Machine. 

79. Thus side by side they forever dwell. Building stars 
in space from what man termeth nothing, and illuminating 
the surfaces thereof, until even his material eyes can see 
their fruits. 

80. God worketh his own glory out of all opposing ele- 
ments. Chaos, or that termed nothing, is the only direct 
opposite unto him. Then behold the greatness of God ! 
He hath builded worlds upon worlds out of nothing, yet 
the instant he commenceth, that instant is Chaos moving 
with newly conceived Life. 

81. As the Light within conceived the creation, the light 
without created. And as the love of God in his own pure 
spirit blended and doth blend its own attributes into one 
independent, Eternal Being, so in the receding love was 
the outward harmony of Oneness revealed. 

82. Man can not build that which equals his own spirit. 



116 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

Neither in the outward satisfy himself, nor in the inward 
reap pure enjoyment, yet he can build and can reap enjoy- 
ment to a certain extent. 

83. God builded the creation by the agency of his own 
pure attributes, yet he is not the creation, nor is it an em- 
bodiment of him. As Man remaineth separate and distinct 
from his building, so God doth remain independent of his 
creation. 

84. As man can not build that which is beyond his con- 
trol, neither can Deity surpass his power. 

85. The opposite of Deity is Chaos, or nothing ; then can 
he from nothing surpass his own perfection? 

86. Oh, God, those who would make thee as an uncon- 
trollable dead machine have never tasted of thy love, 
neither have they viewed thy creation in the only light 
that can fully reveal it, even thine own Divine rays. 

87. Humility is the first step on the road leading up 
unto the Temple wherein true knowledge dwelleth 

88. If man be not humble, he closeth the avenues lead- 
ing from his Father into his spirit ; and as light can not 
penetrate a solid mass, neither can love enter in purity a 
stubborn and wayward spirit. 

89. Man's elevation dependeth upon how he attracteth 
God's own pure light and love. 

90. If he repel them, in reality he is approaching God's 
opposite ; and, as chaos is nothing, from nothing must he 
receive recompense. 

91. Oh, children of God, ye who love your offspring, 
and delight at all times to render them happy by kind ac- 
tions performed by you, believe that as the love within 
you is not of your own creating, and not under your own 
control, do believe from the joy it giveth that it is from 
One derived in whom it dwelleth in purity. 

92. Ye could not love had not your Father in Heaven 
in his creation of your being implanted within it his own 
eternal attribute. 

93. All the creation is the result of desire in the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 117 

mind of Deity, and must of this desire partake to 
exist. 

94. Love desireth. This desire is unquenchable save in 
the fountain whence love floweth. It leaveth its home on 
an errand of mercy ; around the vast circumference of 
Heaven it floateth, nourishing the hosts within. It passeth 
through space, visiting every body floating therein ; it 
poureth upon them the Father's blessing ; it again center- 
eth inward toward its desired home, and is again purified 
by the Creator to again depart and again return. 

95. As love of God in purity desireth to return to its own 
fount, and as man's love is an emanation thereof, it must 
partake of that from which it emanated, and must eventu- 
ally draw near unto the everlasting fountain of pure Love. 

96. As love of God sustained him in his creating, and 
supplied the wants of created, so must man's love sustain 
him in all his good works, helping him unto his own glori- 
fication, his own perfection. 

97. Love descending from Deity passeth through his 
child on earth, and by the Individuality through whom it 
passeth is rendered visible in action, and is thus a beauti- 
ful illustration of Harmony. 

98. The actions of man which love hath prompted and 
rendered effectual return unto the actor the pleasure which 
only dispensed goodness can bestow. 

99. And herein behold the harmony of love illustrated ; 
it acteth, and in the action receiveth return, thus complet- 
ing its circle, and proving that in the creation there can be 
nothing lost or annihilated. 

100. The light and love within man's spirit make it to 
desire still brighter light and still holier love, for they long 
for their eternal home. 

101. They would elevate him, raise his individuality 
unto the high position which they in purity occupy. 

102. They are the component parts of his individuality. 
The body is but a result, the effect of God's power through 
their instrumentality manifested. It is built of that on 



118 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

which it dwells, and from which it can not escape, for har- 
mony require th that it should return unto earth all that it 
hath taken therefrom. 

103. So does harmony require that the spirit should 
complete its circle by returning unto its Father in Heaven, 
whence it came. 

101. And as light and love have nourished, so must it 
in action complete their work within it in its own expan- 
sion and comprehension. 

105. If man by nnharmonious actions striveth to mar 
the designs of God, striveth for and serveth God's opposite, 
it were better that life had never been given him. His 
opposition doth not affect Deity, for, as hath been said, 
He worketh his own glory out of all opposing elements ; 
yet by the wayward and heedless individuality, those things 
designed in the bestowal of his talents are frustrated, and 
he liveth as the dead, effect instead of as the true life 
requireth. 

106. All life is pure in proportion as it assimilates unto 
the life of God. 

107. All enjoy it in proportion as his holy attributes 
find a resting-place within their spiritual being. 

108. Life being in the outward, as also in the inward 
being of spirit, but an effect of God's active will, must, in 
its very birth, inherit those attributes which existed, and 
do exist in the will which created it. 

109. God is the cause and controller of all life. 

110. Being thus within His power, it can not be con- 
trolled by ought below Him. 

111. Man hath no power over life. It is eternal, for 
God liveth. He can neither create nor destroy it. 

112. The eternal attributes which must stamp its being 
as an emanation from God, are light to create, and love to 
blend it in harmony with all created. 

113. God knoweth whence he came, and whence his 
power. He knoweth how to create. He knoweth all. 
He can comprehend himself. 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATIONS. 119 

11-1. Man hath greater power than he hath ever im- 
agined. 

115. He hath been so enraptured with his own littleness, 
that his greatness hath never been discovered. 

116. Those who should have opened the eyes of man- 
kind, have shut them. 

117. As God knoweth how to create, so can man per- 
fected comprehend his creation. 

118. Being in the Image of God, all else is below 
him, and can be understood, and, if God desireth, con- 
trolled. 

119. Thus is he an inheritor of his Father's Kingdom, 
yet never an usurper of his power. 

120. Thus can he sit upon the eternal Throne by his 
Father's side, and sway myriad worlds, yet not create an 
atom ! 

121. Being in the image of God, hath deep meaning. 

122. Breathing eternal life is not an idle fabrication, for 
all life is an emanation of God's life, and, as hath been 
said, must be eternal. 

123. Next unto God, is man his child. 

124. Those who have never lived in flesh are holy and 
pure, yet in power second unto the spirit of man. 

125. Angels and Archangels are for his guidance upon 
earth, and are thus ministering servants of God unto 
man. 

126. But it is the child that the Father loveth to exalt. 
It is the child for whose welfare they are sent, and in 
whose service they are to labor in the eternal home of 
God. 

127. Man hath been taught that he was the child of 
God ; yet the Teacher of this simple, exalted truth, a true 
child of God, was doomed to an ignominious death. 

128. Thus hath truth been received in past ages of. the 
world. But behold, oh, man, truth still liveth and grow- 
eth, in defiance of all thy opposition. 

129. Thy spirit, as it becometh more and more exalted, 



120 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

will see and know that upon the ever-living truths of 
God it must rely to be saved from chaotic ignorance and 
error. 

130. Thou may est by thy selfishness hinder thyself, and 
check entirely for a season thy progress ; yet, so sure as 
light overcometh darkness, so sure wilt thou in the end 
come to know the truth in purity. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1. The highest of all attainments is to know God. 

2. This is alone His own privilege. 

3. The second great attainment is to know thyself, and 
thy connection with thy Father. 

4. To know thyself thou must use His wisdom, for to 
comprehend requireth superiority. 

5. The third great attainment, and second great privi- 
lege is to know and comprehend thy Father's creation. 

6. Oh, strive, through thy Father's aid, to know thyself. 
Strive to comprehend thy spiritual privileges. Fear not to 
ask for aid, wherein thou must have it ere thou dost take 
the first true step. 

7. If thou dost know that which thou art using, then 
canst thou succeed ; if not, failure is inevitable. 

8. Thus thou seest that a sense of want leadeth unto that 
which giveth true knowledge, even the favor of God. 

9. Be humble, and thou canst sink deep ; be exalted 
with pride, and thou canst not get below the surface. 

10. Be simple and honest, true and good, and all will be 
well. 

11. If he thus begin, he can not fall from that which he 
attaineth, for all below him is the eternal truth of God. 

12. He can only fall by a blind dependence upon him- 
self. 

13. If he lean not upon God, whose is all strength, he 
becomes weakened and falls. He is leaning upon that 
which God's attributes are continually changing, and he 
must be as fickle as the staff upon which he leans. 

14. The first step in error is a falling off from the truth 



122 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

obtained. All falling is comparative. All being different, 
if the j err they fall as their own scale is graded. 

15.' The light within regulates all in connection with the 
spirit in which it is placed. 

16. If God and Truth are high, error and ignorance are 
low ; and as the spirit of man favors the one he rises, or as 
the other he falls. 

17. The greatest fall of man is sinning against the light 
of God placed within his own spirit. 

18. To sin against, is to knowingly violate. 

19. If a man know of a truth that which his Father re- 
quireth, yet of himself goeth directly opposite thereunto, 
great is the fall of that man. 

20. God doth not change, neither can he know wrath, 
and man's individuality alone must carry the burden of his 
transgression. 

21. Being the child of God, and perfected the constant 
companion of God, it is a fearful thing to knowingly cast 
censure in action upon the kind One who in purest love 
bestowed the power which is thus perverted ! 

22. To have thy high position in the Heavens, thou must 
on earth have the essence of Light and Darkness within 
thee. 

23. To rule, thou must comprehend what thou art ruling. 

24. Thou canst not comprehend that which thou hast not 
felt and known of thyself. 

25. To rule over chaos, thou must have chaotic powers 
represented within thyself. Hence the body which be- 
longeth unto the denser creation must and doth have pow- 
ers separate and distinct from the light or spirit within. 

26. These are placed within thee for thy government 
upon earth ; and as thou dost govern the essences within, 
so in the future shalt thou govern the effects, or bodies and 
worlds without. 

27. Thus thou seest, that being in the image of God hath 
indeed deep meaning. 

28. He createth all, and knoweth all ; and if thou wouldst 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 123 

learn of that which must elevate thee in His sight, and in 
His light, ask, and thou wilt receive. 

29. Thou kno west that light remove th darkness ; and if 
thou encourage the darker powers, thou must be removed 
far from thy Father and thy high place in Heaven. 

30. Thou art to overcome darkness as thy Father in his 
creation, and thus prove thyself to be indeed a worthy 
child. 

31. Thy Father will not trust thee to rule others if thou 
canst not perfectly rule thyself; and he sees thee as thou 
art. Thou mayest deceive and blind thy silly brother by 
professions, but unto God thou art visible and naked. 

32. To rule thyself thou must attract the attributes of 
God, the eternal Ruler. 

33. If aught but His "Will could have ruled, why did 
Chaos retreat at his command ? And if within thee his 
power is not greatest, what favor from Him canst thou ex- 
pect ? 

34. He loveth thee with a perfect love. His love was 
used in thy creation, and hence can not be used to annihi- 
late thee and thy powers. 

35. Thou canst obey or disobey, love or hate, yet art at 
last responsible for thy inheritance. 

36. He giveth thee control of error by planting within 
thee the essences of truth. Thou must use his attributes 
to live, and in living repay him for the use thereof. 

37. Thou art in His school, which is a practical 
one. 

38. He seeth the "compass of thy powers, and would fain 
show their extent unto thee, that a sense of thy own weak- 
ness should increase thy strength by asking His assist- 
ance. 

39. Imperfection can not give perfect judgment. 

40. The perfection of love in man is Charity. 

41. A sense of weakness within maketh thee charitable 
unto thy brother, who to thy superior understanding seeru- 
eth to err. 



124 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

42. The perfection of love to God is a firm reliance upon 
him. 

43. He is purely charitable unto all his children who 
should imitate Him in charity one to another. 

44. Greatness and simplicity are inseparably connected. 

45. Simplicity is as necessary unto true greatness as is 
charity unto love. 

46. If thou wouldst be a faithful follower of God, be 
simple in thy ways, and let love shed around thy pathway 
its holy fruit. 

47. Be not elated with favor, even of God, neither be 
cast down in spirit by any save its own inward sense of 
weakness. 

48. If thou feelest most unworthy of thy Father's notice, 
remember that thou art his child ; and though thou may est 
err, his love and charity remain eternally pure. 

49. As hath been said, thou must feel these seasons of 
depression ; thou must know the opposite of Light, in or- 
der to know fully its sweetness. 

50. Oh, Man ! when wilt thou believe the mighty truths 
among which thou mo vest are all within thy power of com- 
prehension ? 

51. When wilt thou look at effect as but a demonstra- 
tion of cause, and all causes but as a demonstration of the 
power of the good Creator of them ? 

52. Thou canst never successfully search for the inner 
cause among outer effects, for the current is against thee. 

53. The light noweth out, and thou art striving to enter 
in opposition unto it. 

54. There is little connected with thy earthly life which 
is of importance for thee to know. Thy spiritual being is 
the real and true existence, and this should thou develop to 
its fullest capability. 

55. If thy spirit be not fed and clothed with the proper 
food and clothing, it can not enter the future existence ca- 
pable of understanding its power, and this ignorance hold- 
eth it back. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 125 

56. If thy body take all thy time, art thou thus preparing 
for Eternity. Of what avail is comeliness of body unto a 
deformed spirit ? 

57. And if in the sight of imperfect man thou art per- 
fect, remember that imperfect vision can not behold per- 
fection. 

58. When man would exalt thee, seek thy Father in 
Heaven, and there, in his presence, learn what is true ex- 
altation. 

59. "When he mocks thee and heaps upon thee all man- 
ner of abuse, thou art not, therefore, to forget God and 
imitate the abuse. 

60. Learn to act unto man as though thy Heavenly Fa- 
ther was beside thee, and though man receiveth thy action, 
yet for God dost thou act. 

61. Learn to expect reward only from God, and thou 
wilt never be disappointed. Thou mayest think thou 
art not rewarded, but thy thoughts do not regulate 
Deity. 

62. On the other hand, He may be thus regulating thy 
thoughts to enable thee by faithfulness to receive still 
greater rewards than thou hast conceived possible. 

63. Oh, hadst thou comprehension, couldst thou be in- 
duced to open thy spiritual eyes and see and understand 
the holiness and purity of the good Father, thou wouldst, 
indeed, by humility before him, take the first step unto 
true knowledge. 

64. God is not hindered as thou by time and distance — 
everywhere, at all times, can he be. His power is un- 
limited. 

65. If thou dost sincerely desire his presence, can he 
not come ? Canst thou in desire surpass the bounty which 
gave thee the power of thyself to desire ? 

6Q. Then do not heedlessly walk the earth, imagining 
that thy Heavenly Father is at a great distance because 
unseen by thee. 

67. Yet if He were from thee a greater distance than 



126 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

thou canst conceive, all thy actions and thoughts would be 
visible and known to him ! 

68. Thou knowest how swiftly the outer light flies, then 
does not its producing essence surpass it in speed incon- 
ceivably ? 

69. What thou canst comprehend, strive to apply right- 
fully, and thou wilt need few teachers. 

70. Thy thoughts, through the agency of thy vision, 
circle instantly around the most remote star in space ; and 
if thy thought and vision are so quick, what must be the 
pure thought and perfect vision from which they ema- 
nate ? 

71. Who, save God, can measure Thought? All the 
creation is but the evidence that God thinketh and did 
think to create. 

72. Man can not think perfect thoughts lest he could act 
perfect actions ; and when on earth he striveth after holi- 
ness, his striving is the product of thought. 

73. In thinking he useth essences which result from the 
refined essences within the mind of God, in whose man's 
mind was created. 

71. If, then, the controlling essences of thought in man 
are but the denser representatives of the pure essences 
of thought within the mind or spirit of God, how utterly 
impossible is it for thought to die or to escape the sight 
of God ! 

75. Thought unto God is as visible as the earth or the 
largest and most brilliant body in space. 

76. Unto a limited comprehension it seemeth strange 
that one being can be at all times in all places ; and the 
more limited, the more strange, which proveth that unto 
the unlimited comprehension it is not strange at all. 

77. It hath been proven that Deity can not create that 
which is beyond his power or control, and surely was any 
being permitted to pass entirely without the range of his 
vision, his own imperfection would thereby be proven. 

78. All the vast machinery of creation, being the result 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 127 

of perfect thought, is harmonious, and needs no controller, 
save as God desireth. 

79. Principles and their essences result alike from more 
and still more refined essences, which, in circling, spiral 
lines, ascend toward the top, whereon is the One in whom 
is all refinement made perfect. 

80. Harmony is the fruit of God, and not God of Har- 
mony. 

81. He produceth that by His perfect action, and it is but 
a name for the proof of His action. 

82. All things emanate from Him, and if in His creation 
thou canst see different grades of power manifested in the 
life around thee, do not draw the erroneous conclusion that 
all things united produce God. 

83. How can the Germ, without a superior quickening 
power, be quickened into new life ? Dost thou think that 
the earth, in which it is placed, is this superior power ? If 
so, what art thou but the lowest on earth, instead of the 
highest ? 

84. If thou canst establish the absurdity that what is 
below in power produceth that which is above, thou hast 
annihilated God and thyself, and restored chaos to exist- 
ence wherein ye have existed ! 

85. If this were established, the least would be greatest! 
The smallest atom would commence creation, and add, and 
build, and form, advance, and refine upon itself, until be- 
hold it vieweth at last the ever-increasing and never-ending- 
addition of that which came from nothing and was of 
nothing composed ! 

86. Thou seest that the supposition of a beginning would 
be undermined by that which began it, and where in the 
dim shadows of night, where in chaos, even, couldst thou 
begin? Thou wouldst forever sink and never find rest ! 

87. It were better to commence with the plain, simple 
fact that thou dost exist. And having established this to 
thy satisfaction, thou hast a firm base upon which to rest, 
as thou dost look about thee. 



128 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

88. Thou didst not produce thyself. Thou couldst not 
by the most refined animal life build a man equal unto thy- 
self. Eemember that in thy production reproduction is 
established, but thou didst not establish it. 

89. Therefore acknowledge thy weakness, and the supe- 
rior power whose fruit thou art. 

90. Thou canst think, yet must admit that thy thoughts 
appear to come to thee, instead of being produced within 
thee ! Thou hast within thy brain the powers which 
thought useth to make itself known and felt. 

91. If thou canst produce Thought, tell its component 
parts. 

92. Thought, as an essence and controlling power, is 
above and beyond, yet constantly around thee. 

93. Within thy Brain is that individuality upon which it 
playeth, as the light upon the germ, quickening it into life, 
and giving wisdom as a result, pure in proportion as in 
purity the essence is received. 

94. Thought created, and existeth around its creation. 

95. As thou dost attract pure and holy thoughts, so will 
they come and dwell around thee, and at every opportunity 
enter thy household. 

96. Yet if thou attract unholy thoughts, thy brain be- 
comes deadened, and will not vibrate unto the strain sung 
by the holy ones. 

97. How simple, truthful, and trusting is the little un- 
learned child ! It believeth all are as honest and trustful 
as itself; no suspicion nor care; yet it giveth evidence of 
thought. 

98. It showeth in all of its actions that its thoughts are 
pure and holy — an emanation of God's light and his love 
instilled into its being by the quickening of its existence. 

99. Hard and bitter are the lessons which make it as the 
world in which it moves without. 

100. And if, in after years, it showeth a reckless regard 
for truth and honesty, do not blame the child ; for in child- 
hood it was tempted and misled by its very virtues, im- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 129 

posed upon for confiding, abused for truthfulness; it yielded 
to the mighty errors without, and in agony fell a victim to 
the fearful odds against it. 

101. Emblems of God's pure love and charity are his 
little children on earth. 

102. Beside them and their humble trustfulness of spirit, 
the mightiest on earth are in the sight of God but as the 
dark, dry atom unto the bright and genial sun ! 

103. In the sight of God children are holy and pure. 

104. Are they not His children ? Hath He not in their 
mothers' pure love implanted the purest of His lovely rays 
shed upon earth ? 

105. Ye who love not children know not God. Ye who 
teach them error are planting within your spirits thorns 
that ages can not extract. 

106. Over them God hath a watchful eye. His pure at- 
mosphere encircles them, and upon their infant brain his 
own pure thought playeth, and their smile sheds around 
them holiness and peace. 

107. Oh, if thou wouldst study thought in its purity, 
mark well the lisping prattle of thy child. 

108. Go not unto proud, conceited man, for in his very 
pride he spurns from him the simplicity of true greatness. 

109. Mark the look of thy child when the deceitful 
tongue is speaking, and from its unexpressible comprehen- 
sion revealed in the sparkling eye, learn how to act. 

110. From its serene happiness, the result of purity, learn 
how to live. The door of Heaven or happiness serene is 
never closed against thee, and if thou dost become an in- 
strument upon which thought in purity can play, thou wilt 
be an honest and truthful child of God. 

111. Thy actions will be directly inspired by God, thy 
aspirations will be holy, and high thoughts will descend 
from heaven and circle round thee, as brilliant rays of 
light. 

112. As this light descends from heaven, it quickens thy 
brain, loosens thy tongue, and from thy mouth sendeth 

9 



130 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

forth streams of living wisdom, couched in lovely language, 
unto the astonished multitude. 

113. Thou canst in thought see a better life which thou 
couldst live — oh, encourage the thought of it, and thou wilt 
rapidly approach that which in the past seemed perfection. 
Yet, as thou dost approach and attain, the atmosphere be- 
cometh more and more pure, and thoughts still more holy 
approach ; thou dost grasp ; retain, and grasp further again, 
until the presence of thy Heavenly Father satisfieth every 
desire. 

114. As thou dost lovingly give unto thy child tasks to 
develop his powers, so unto thee doth God give trials to 
develop thee. 

115. Thou hast a living, aspiring spirit. Thou art in the 
light and dark ; thou learnest from thy own experience 
how to master them and guide their influence, and unto 
thy child giveth this knowledge, always showing the dark- 
ness contrasted by the brilliant light. 

116. Ere thou enterest the difficult studies, seek first the 
proper knowledge of the thoughts thou wilt have to use 
therein. 

117. Strive to receive them in purity, and all thou dost 
think about will assume a pure and lovely shape, and every 
step will advance thee in the true knowledge. 

118. If thou dost not use pure thoughts, what canst thou 
learn in purity ? And if thy knowledge be impure, of 
what use can it be unto one destined for the regions 
wherein dwelleth all purity ? 

119. True knowledge must always illustrate God's power, 
love, and harmony, for of them and by him is it composed. 

120. All who obtain true knowledge are thereby exalted 
in the sight of God. Yet if it be not obtained, whence can 
come exaltation ? To know thou art exalted requireth true 
knowledge. 

121. On earth true knowledge consisteth in the compre- 
hension of thy connection with God, thy Fellow-man, and 
the creation of which thou art part. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 131 

122. Thus thou seest that the first true thought would 
be of God the great originator of thy power to think. 

123. And surely He should claim all thy thoughts and 
their effects as His due recompense and return for thy 
privilege. When thou thinkest of man, let it be to raise 
him, and thus glorify thy Maker ; when of His creation, 
let it be to search for outward proof of His love and 
harmony. 

124. Of God thou canst know but little whilst on his 
Footstool, for thereon thou art very limited compared unto 
the height thou wilt in the glorious future attain. Yet, oh, 
strive to comprehend his ways, for in the striving art thou 
exalted. Strive to understand thy connection with him, 
and thou wilt learn of privileges bestowed upon thee, his 
child, of which thy most enraptured imaginings fall far 
short ! 

125. Oh, seek His communion, seek to counsel with 
God thy Father, and all that can benefit or give happi- 
ness unto thy spirit will in pure love and perfect charity 
be given. 

126. Thy little child hath a hard task ; its little spirit 
wearies under the weight ; it can not unaided proceed, and 
with perfect trustfulness it asks thee for help, and thou 
canst not refuse. 

127. Is not God thy Father ? Is he not more loving 
than thou art, and can not he give more perfect gifts, and 
more willingly bestow favor than thou ? 

128. Oh, then, as thou art imperfect, yet lovest so fond- 
ly, what must be that perfect love which dwelleth within 
the spirit of God ! 

129. Wouldst thou not sooner suffer than to have thy 
child in pain ? Wouldst thou not sooner bestow favor 
upon it than be favored? Oh, then, believe what thou 
dost experience to be but a result of the same pleasure, 
the same powers within thy Father's spirit. 

130. Oh, then, in view of these things, do thou seek 
communion with thy Father, even in the confidence with 



132 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

which thy child seeketh thee, and thou wilt learn wisdom 
from his own lips in purity. 

131. Beginning thus at the Fountain, thou canst float 
safely down the tide of true knowledge, stopping ever and 
anon to examine some truth whose lovely simplicity had 
heretofore escaped thy observation. 

132. All things will seem unto thy spirit much plainer 
and much more simple than thou hadst ever imagined. 
Thou wilt be astonished at the simplicity of the causes 
whence all effects come. Thou wilt see them branching 
off in all directions from the parent cause, as the grain 
from one single germ, and in abundant effects fill full the 
demand of the ever-acting cause. 

133. In Man thou wilt see beauties of which thou wert 
before ignorant, and errors which unto thy vision seem 
most foolish. 

134. Thou wilt see him moving on the earth as one 
grand connecting link between God and his creation below. 

135. His spirit of heaven, his body of earth, his mind an 
instrument played upon by the one, and composed of the 
most refined particles of the other. 

136. Thus when earthly things are before him, the mind 
with its governing, reason can act almost independent of 
the refined spirit ; but when he searches in the Heavens, 
then the spirit calleth for help from above, knowing full 
well that plodding reason would become giddy in the great 
flight. 



CHAPTEK V. 

1. The Spirit of Man is that refined essence of Intelli- 
gence which in the Spirit of God had birth. 

2. It is above all, save God its Creator and Father. 

3. It receiveth from God strength, and in his presence 
becometh perfected. 

4. It is independent governor of the body in which it is 
placed. All powers or actions of the body are under and 
liable to its control. 

5. The house belongs unto it, yet it is capable of possess- 
ing without constantly inhabiting it. 

6. It combines with the denser particles of the man, and 
thus constitutes Reason. 

7. Reason is slower of perception and comprehension 
than spirit, and not so pure and perfect in its conclusions, 
for the mixture is more dense than is the independent spirit. 

8. The spirit is unto reason what in a measure God's 
intelligence is unto the spirit. 

9. Reason, unquickened by spirit, is exclusively outward, 
and its conclusions partake of an outward form. 

10. In the child, spirit controls entirely, and consequently 
we see them truthful, simple, and loving. 

11. They do not exhibit intelligence which the more de- 
veloped spirit does, yet infinitely more perception and love 
of truth than the most wary reasoner. 

12. They can be enticed by love in sincerity, yet know 
instantly the hypocrite. Whilst reason with all her 
strength would labor in vain to detect truth and remove 
error, the little child would seek the one and reject the 
other instantly. 



134: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

13. And is not this the true knowledge of Man and his 
powers ? To know first the connection of his spirit with 
its Creator, and, secondly, its connection with himself 1 

14. Whilst spirit enters Heaven and plucks therefrom 
choicest flowers, reason convinces the beholding doubter 
that indeed they are from on high. 

15. Whilst spirit seeth God's own pure truths to convey 
the proof unto the spirit less gifted with vision that it 
sees, it must excite the reasoning powers, and with unmis- 
takable logic founded on truth which the doubter can com- 
prehend, prove unto him through the convincement of his 
reason and next spirit, that indeed by the first pure truths 
are seen and comprehended. 

16. Thus each has his own light ; but if one wishes to 
trim the other's taper, outside and denser means must be 
used to reach and do it. 

17. The reason is simply this : the spirit is alone con- 
nected inseparably with God, and in its creation was in- 
tended to draw therefrom its highest wisdom ; and hence 
to convince it of a truth which hath never in its center 
been revealed, the center must by outside means be 
reached. 

18. The laws of affinity do not annihilate the dependence 
of spirit upon God, and its independence of other spirits, 
however congenial. 

19. Seest thou not the wisdom of this good arrangement ? 
Thou dost labor exclusively for thyself, even while doing 
the utmost good unto thy fellow-man. And while he is 
idle, himself alone loses his reward. 

20. If thou wouldst exalt thy reasoning powers, and pour 
forth thoughts pure and holy, give up all unto the sway of 
thy spiritual powers. 

21. Thy spirit knoweth that which Reason can never 
comprehend, because it inhabits in eternity the pure place 
wherein is all truth, and where no outside proof is re- 
quired. 

22. For this it is created, whilst, as we have said, reason 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 135 

formeth its connection with the outer creation, and is 
partly of the outer creation composed. 

23. In the home of spirit, wherein is no error, where all 
is bright and lovely, there is no co.nvincement needed ; for 
to see is to know, to hear, believe 3 and to taste filleth the 
spirit with purest joy. 

24. God hath no need of Reason to convince his purified 
spirit-children that he is good and perfect, for they are 
from his good spirit created, and can comprehend their 
bright and glorious position without any demonstration of 
a lower nature. 

25. Reason perfected is a great helper of spirit unto the 
convincement of those who still in the flesh exist, and for 
this purpose, used in Truth's behalf, it is a glorious instru- 
ment. 

26. If used exclusively for outer influence and gain, it 
retards itself, and hinders its controlling spirit by constant 
opposition from progressing rapidly in the cause of true 
knowledge. 

27. Misguided reason develops unholy passion, and thus 
constantly obstructs the will of God as made manifest 
within the spirit of his child. 

28. When by Passion the outside man becomes deadened 
in feeling, the spiritual power is proportionately weakened ; 
and hence the downward course, once entered, is frequently 
fearfully rapid unto its darkened close. 

29. Every successive erroneous step makes the next step 
easier, because the last has trampled on one more spiritual 
tie, loosened one more spiritual bond of connection with 
God, and hastened forward with redoubled power the poor, 
blind wanderer. 

30. As the upward course, guided by the spirit and sus- 
tained by an exalted reason, is slow at first, and of un- 
steady step, yet in the end it maketh mighty strides toward 
perfection — so in the descent, the spirit checks and warns, 
the reason shows the hideous deformity of the debasing 
passions ; but as the hold slips again and again, the strides 



136 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

become longer and more fearful, until all is extinguished 
l(i the last dying resolve ! 

31. Reason connects spirit with matter. 

32. They all unite and form Mind, which is but a name 
for the whole. 

33. Without Reason the spiritual powers could not be 
connected with earth ; and without spirit the reasoning 
powers would be useless, for they would be cut away from 
all access above them, and would be but blind drudges be- 
low the animal Instinct. 

34. All things emanating from God are, as hath been 
said, in harmony ; yet there is that which unto the refined 
spirit is not at all harmonious. 

35. In the spirit and its enjoyments affinity is harmony. 

36. In reasoning, harmony is produced by the blending 
of the spiritual intelligence with the subject reasoned upon. 

37. Thus after all thou seest that the next highest quality 
thou dost possess hath to solicit the sjnrit's aid, to make 
plain that with which it cometh in contact 

38. And this plain and simple one seeketh in humility 
its Father in Heaven, and there of him asketh for wisdom, 
which is never refused. 

39. Descending through thee is light's brilliant stream ; 
first touching thy spiritual being, through it purity is trans- 
mitted to the minor powers of thy mind, and show them- 
selves completing their circle in thy circumference in 
actions, which, as wheels cogging together, catch another's 
circumference, and thus move another center; and thou, 
oh, God, only can see the end ! 

40. One true man, with the spirit of God shedding light 
upon his spirit, can shake and move a world. 

41. With plain and simple truths, revealed by an ex- 
alted simplicity of reasoning, he catches the ears, feeds the 
understanding, and finally moves the spirit in unison with 
his own, and with this first step cometh redoubled power. 
One by one the wheels move, and error after error is crushed 
between their close-fitting surfaces. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 137 

42. Pride stands firm in error's support, and selfishness 
almost stops the machinery with its giant strength ; but a 
new shaft of light is added, and behold the Giant Brothers 
are crushed to atoms by the ever onward and powerful 
truth ! 

43. The True Man is simply one who seeketh for spiritual 
food in Heaven, and displays and dispenses it unto his kind ; 
no oj>position intimidates, no praise exalts him, but with 
firmness he proclaims truth's strength and beauty at every 
opportunity. 

44. He who receives the light of God in his spirit, and 
would save it therein, knows not the richness of Heaven's 
blessings. 

45. Love, to give happiness, must flow constantly, as 
God its creator designed in placing its channels in the 
creation. It can never rest. 

46. Like the silver stream leaping down the mountain 
side in the bright sunlight, it is cooling, nourishing, and 
pure ; yet if pent up, its purity is deadened by the noisome 
earth on which it is confined. 

47. The pent-up Love eateth away the connection be- 
tween spirit, and the body and mind in which it dwells. 

48. The purest on earth is that w T hich passeth through 
the spirits of the Mothers of God's children. If pent up 
in their spirits by agonizing grief, it w r ill soon sever the 
connection with all earthly things, and let the oppressed 
spirit free. 

49. If the loved object prove ever so unworthy of its 
bestowal, the channel hath in childhood been opened wide, 
and can never be closed. Unto Reason's view the Mother's 
love is most unreasonable, yet unto the enlightened spirit 
it is the Holy of Holies on earth. 

50. Ever onward floweth the pure stream, giving joy and 
gladness unto all who drink of its waters. 

51. Love doth not require words to make itself known 
and appreciated. From God, the holy Fountain, it flow- 
eth void of reason, free from care ; it entereth every open 



138 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

door in spirit, and dispenseth the joy it received unto the 
receiver. 

52. This thou knowest, if thou hast ever tasted of its 
purity ; if not, thou canst not judge. 

53. Words will not convince the child that thou dost 
love it. Thine eye must reveal the kind and congenial 
spirit within, lest it will shrink from thee as from some 
dreaded yet unknown evil. 

54. In spite of all thy arguments, love stands aloof and 
despises thee for thy littleness of comprehension ; whereas 
if thou dost love, the congenial spirit knoweth it in spite 
of all thy arguments to the contrary. 

55. Quick as thought she knoweth all, and if not hin- 
dered by outside influences, will impart her simple tale 
unto thy listening ear. 

56. If thou dost condemn, she suffers, yet loveth still, 
for the channel hath been opened and through it must pass 
that which God designed in its creation. 

57. It unites with spirit and blends in wisdom — which 
wisdom floweth out in the clear, deep stream of Philosoph- 
ical Reasoning only used by the exalted child of God. 

58. Reason showeth by its arguments the connection of 
light and loVe with the outer creation, by blending them 
therein, yet without their moving and blending power the 
machinery would forever stand still in Death. 

59. Thou canst herein see that even thy reasoning pow- 
ers which thou hadst thought were surely thine own are, 
through thy spirit, connected with God. 

60. The spirit's perfection is reason's annihilation. 

61. So soon as the spirit hath served out its time of 
servitude, and in the presence of God is pure, then, as hath 
been said, reason is useless. 

62. Where there are no errors to be destroyed and re- 
moved, there is no destroying instrument needed, and sure- 
ly in God's presence all must be perfect. 

63. As flashes of light Thought in purity entereth thy 
spirit, Love can not restrain it, and the thought must be 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 139 

worded and fastened without thee, as the brilliant diamond 
in its golden settings. 

64. Thou canst not, if true, keep it within thee, but on 
thy outer surface, as the gem, it will reflect its pure beams 
unto all observers. 

65. If a pure and holy thought enters thy spirit, do not 
let it die therein, for all seed should grow and bear fruit, 
glorifying their Creator. 

66. Thou mayest not have great physical development; 
thy reasoning organs may be deficient, yet let forth thy 
thought, and leave the rest with God. 

67. It is not the greatest mind that preaches purest truth, 
but the greatest and humblest spirit. 

68. Mind is the result of spirit and matter, yet in some 
men spirit predominates, in others matter. 

69. In the first, thought is always purest; in the last, 
reason may be greatest. 

TO. By the largely spiritual man truth is instantly com- 
prehended, yet expressive powers may not be given to a 
sufficient extent for the convincement of others. 

71. Such will, by living out in action their comprehen- 
sion, glorify themselves in the sight of God far more than 
the greatest reasoner in whom the spiritual development is 
small. 

72. The proper balance of mind is only obtained by hav- 
ing the Intellectual or Reasoning faculties completely under 
the control of the grand regulator, spirit. 

73. In those men whose regulator is out of order, the 
tendency is to run into absurd extremes. 

74. All charity leaves the mind the instant the spirit 
loses her sway. Love's channel is closed, and instead of 
life-giving light and love's congenial warmth, we find only 
the cold, darkened icebergs of a heartless and spiritless 
Eeason. 

75. In such men reform is rashness — love, vanity — and 
life but the moving power to shake dry bones in their 
sockets. 



140 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

76. Their very breath is chilling to the spiritual-minded, 
and by all good men their presence is shunned. 

77. They would freeze love in the humble spirit, and 
laugh at its torture. Their world is dark, their God 
gloomy, and their future that which is entirely beyond 
their comprehension ! 

78. If thou wouldst test thy brother, ask him of the fu- 
ture. He may master the present as it is passing beneath 
him, but the future, without the spirit's aid, can never be 
fathomed. 

79. If he point thine eye upward, and in humility tells 
thee, " A just and loving Father reigneth, unto whom my 
spirit is ever grateful," then go thy way in peace, for in 
that spirit Hope hath her taper lighted, and all is well. 

80. If he tell thee that the present occupieth all his 
time, then say unto him, " Eternity is before thee and be- 
hind thee, but God, thy loving Father, is above thee ; look 
up, brother, look up," and thy loving words shall touch 
the chord which ever vibrates in the spirit of man. 

81. Thou art God's child, and must never forget that 
man is thy brother, equally the son of God. If he err do 
not reprove him, for reproof is a dangerous weapon in im- 
perfect hands ; love him, and in that love act. 

82. If thou feelest no love within thee, do not attempt 
to show it unto thy brother, for his spirit will brand thee 
as a hypocrite ; go quietly away, and first learn to love. 

83. "Words uttered in unkindness are hard to recall ; it 
were better to guard thyself, and keep silence. 

84. If thou art in doubt advise not, for such advice is 
very liable to err. 

85.. Learn to wait until thy spirit speaks, then thou wilt 
find very little spoken to recall. 

86. The instant light flashes upon thy brain, the ma- 
chinery moves under its power, and the result proves its 
power and clearness. But if the light comes not within, 
how can it shine without ? 

87. Always remember that silence is preferable unto error. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 141 

88. The former is on the level, but the latter is below the 
surface of truth. 

89. That which thou knowest utter, and words will be 
given thee. If thou dost not know, how canst thou say ? 
and how canst thou know without a proper connection with 
the Fountain of all knowledge ? 

90. Thy connection with man results from God, and 
should by his attributes be sanctified. 

91. Without a common Father there could be no bond 
of connection. With him the bond is perfected in love. 

92. If thy brother be ever so highly developed, do not 
worship him ; if among the lowest, do not despise him. 

93. Until thou art perfect, judge not. If a brother err, 
pity and help him. If he do good, go thou and do like- 
wise. 

91. In all circumstances remember to give thy Father 
in Heaven the first offering and last thanksgiving. 

95. If thou art inwardly right, as hath again and again 
been said, no outside influence can affect thy spiritual 
serenity. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1. Passions might be termed habits of mind. 

2. They are the result of careless Individuality. 

3. A misguided Reason, spurning help from above, and 
thus shutting off its regulating power, becomes easily 
swayed to and fro, settling on organs which in the mind 
are largest, and as a result, Passions become fixed, and 
sway their habitual power over the minority. 

4. They are the resulting fruit of a mind but dimly 
lighted from above. In all well-balanced minds passions 
are strangers. In such minds an earnestness and strength 
is always visible, yet the blind and hasty passion is never 
seen. 

5. Passions, once formed, are hard to remove from the 
mind ; they are almost a second nature, that is, their power 
is almost beyond all control in the mind where they have 
lived. 

6. Some rage only while the body is strong, and as age 
advances, the spirit again resumes its sway, others leave 
only with the last ebb of life. 

7. Hatred, being love's opposite, is darkest of the dark- 
ened group. It branches off into Revenge, Envy, Jealousy, 
and forms part of every unholy passion disturbing the mind 
of man. 

8. Light or Intelligence being pure, of necessity opposes 
all impure passions, and must blend with love in their de- 
struction. 

9. Hatred, as a deadly serpent, hisses forth his malicious 
venom, and defies the mild tread of his opponent. 

10. His path is slimy ; he lives in dark holes ; eats un- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 143 

holy food in his own selfish home, digests it in bitterness, 
and with its strength calls up new inventions to torture his 
victim. 

11. In deep, dark dens his plots are laid, and in the mid- 
night liour executed. Light to his view is hideous and 
most unwelcome. 

12. He shuns the light, for its bright rays pierce his 
glaring eyeballs and fill him with horror. 

13. To be seen is to be known as a hateful thing, worthy 
of being at all times shunned. 

14. Hatred, unholy thou art and most degraded, yet thy 
Very existence is bound by a perverted love, and the skill 
revealed in thy dark, deep plotting, is but thy own perver- 
sion of God's pure light within thee ! 

15. Thou dost plant the seed and eat the fruit of Remorse. 

16. Thou canst change love's holy joy into the suspicious 
stings of jealousy. * 

17. Eevenge sates thee, and offers thee abundantly of 
the richest fruits remorse can bring. 

18. Envy entices thee to the edge of the precipice, and 
along it thou dost crawl, an uncouth thing never visible to 
the eyes of purity. 

19. Oh, thou dost torture the mind that lets thee in ! 

20. Warmed and fed, with new strength thy fiery tongue 
doth prick the bosom in which thou wert nestled ! 

21. Oh, Man, pause and reflect well ere thon dost de- 
grade thyself in Heaven's sight by sway of unholy passions. 

22. Active perverted powers constantly plant in thy path- 
way pain and anguish in their bitterest forms. 

23. Shun them as thou wouldst annihilation. 

24. They retard thy steps, darken thy joy, make peace 
a stranger, and in all thy life torment' thee. 

25. It requires no more energy to love than to hate most 
bitterly. It is easier and more pleasant to do good than to 
injure those among whom thou art placed. 

26. In doing good God's strength sustains thee. In 
hating and injuring thy brother thou hast all his holy attri- 



144: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

butes opposing thee, and protecting the injured one, and 
surely thy strength must unto thee seem great to fight 
against such mighty power. 

27. Passions only dwell in Time. In Eternity they have 
no share, save that their existence in the flesh hath greatly 
retarded the spirit's passage after the flesh hath crumbled 
away. 

28. Thus, though they enter not beyond the gates of 
Death, yet their baleful effects are painfully perceived by 
the darkened and weakened spirit. 

29. Within the Human mind Hatred dwelleth. The 
lowest animal of God's creating hath it not. They are 
governed by an instinctive perception, yet not capable of 
removing from under its control, and as this perception is 
implanted by Deity, hatred, the opposite of the love which 
implanted it, can not enter the being. 

30. Alone Man enjoyethits torture. The perverted law 
through which love floweth in man, alone giveth its sting- 
ing reward. 

31. Thy own exaltation alone giveth thee power to per- 
vert thy powers. Had God left thee as the animal, he 
had been childless, and thou hadst not been at all, save as 
the beasts of the field that perish. 

32. Thou, unto them, art as God unto thy spirit. 

33. Thou art the child and companion of God. If thou 
dost seek for proof of thy exaltation, thy powers of rising 
and falling, of elevation and perversion, should be sufficient 
to convince thee. 

34. "Within thee thou hast concentrated the powers of 
light and darkness. Thou canst love most purely and hate 
most bitterly ; thou canst drink deep of everlasting wisdom, 
or wander among the bogs and quicksands of most de- 
graded ignorance. 

35. Thou canst scale Heaven's pure walls, and dwell in 
everlasting joy, or descend to the confines of darkness, and 
start anew toward the far-off home of God. 

36. Thou art the grand sum of Creation. Placed on 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 145 

earth as the link perfecting harmony, with powers to obey 
or disobey, progress or retrograde, yet always thyself re- 
sponsible. 

37. Thou alone dost admit within thee the pure and bril- 
liant light, and sweet nourishing love of God, or invite the 
dark hosts of Ignorance and Hatred. 

38. Thou alone canst call angels from high Heaven to 
commune with thee, or canst call up from a distempered 
imagination the darkened fiends thy hate hath created. 

39. Thou alone canst, in humility of spirit, commune 
with thy Father in Heaven, even while upon his footstool, 
or turn thy back upon his loving presence to wander to- 
ward the depths of Chaos. 

40. Marvel not that thou hast powers great. Thou art 
the summit of God's power, the Keystone of the arch, 
without which the Temple had never stood ! 

41. To perfect his creation, and bring under his control 
chaos, God created thee the connecting link, holding all 
together and making all perfect, releasing the hand of God 
from control, and in guiding thee, his child, he guideth all 
his creation. 

42. Thou art the focal point upon which all the creation 
turns. Thou art the recipient of the spirit of God. From 
his nostrils didst thou breathe the breath of Life Eternal. 

43. All below thee change and pass away. Thou art. 
eternal. Thy body the sum of all the outer creation ; thy 
spirit the pure child of God. 

44. Perfection produced thee, and then rested, for the 
task was great. 

45. "What joy must have entered the mind of God as he 
viewed the child he had created — saw him move, speak, 
and give signs of Love ! Yes, the perfect spirit of God 
beheld its work, and pronounced it very good ! 

46. Man hath no joy in the inanimate ; neither had God. 
Companionship and converse were necessary unto him, and 
all was in Man embodied. 

47. Light and Love, at God's command, had formed and 

10 



146 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

fashioned all below. Yet they could not by aught in the 
creation be comprehended. 

48. They emanated from Him, and by Him alone were 
known. 

49. From the dust of the earth He formed a lovely statue, 
lie filled full His own Ideal of Beauty in the outward. He 
turned the limbs, molded the features, gave tension to the 
muscles, and placed over them the ever-acting, transparent 
skin. 

50. He shaped the skull, and of the most sensitive sub- 
stances in creation filled it. He strung the system of 
nerves as a musician would his harp, to play the sweetest 
melody. The Machine was perfect, yet below the light 
and love he had used to shape and produce it. 

51. It was this being He designed as His child — one who 
should comprehend His creation, and unto his Creator give 
happiness. 

52. The perfection of outward form was accomplished, 
yet the desired comprehension was not there. 

53. From His own pure and perfect Spirit, Deity pro- 
duced the spirit of his child. Chaos had helped in the 
material body, but from God alone could come the power 
which was to rule over chaos — the living spirit of Man. 

54. The spirit entered the body. The statue breathed, 
moved, and became animate. The harp-strings were swept 
by the breath of God, and gave forth tones of living 
melody. 

55. The Child and Father were alone. The one Perfec- 
tion, the other its Fruit. The one capable of doing all 
things, the other capable of comprehending all that was 
done. 

56. Perfection and its Fruit perfected ! God and the 
child of his love. Companions eternal. Between them 
flowed living streams of Light, and Love dwelt within their 
union. 

57. Man was placed on earth, the last and best created, 
with access to Heaven. He could with his feet wander 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATION'S. 14:7 

among the lilies on the soft meadows of earth, and in spirit 
roam among the glowing beauties of his Fatherland. 

58. With choicest fruit his body was sustained, with 
deepest wisdom his mind was stored, and with purest hap- 
piness his spirit was blessed. 

59. His outer eyes beheld the glowing sun, the lovely 
flowers, and dark green fields of earth ; his inner vision 
pierced the dome of high Heaven, and revealed all the 
actions 8 of his Father. 

60. His outer ear heard the song of myriad warbling 
birds, murmuring brooks, and waving trees ; his inner 
spirit listened, enchanted, to the pure tones of wisdom, as 
they flowed from that kind Father's lips. 

61. He was the embodiment of Harmony. He walked 
the earth comprehending heaven ; understanding all, and 
understood by none save God. 

62. This was Man. And if he is not now, who is re- 
sponsible ? 

63. If he hath lost sight of his great first privilege — the 
communion of his Heavenly Father — himself alone must 
bear the burden. 

64. If, in desiring to rule on earth, he remove his (de- 
pendence upon God, he can not draw from him light and 
love in purity. 

65. And if he by selfish action degrade himself, God will 
not thereby be degraded. 

66. If he pervert light and love to sustain unholy pas- 
sions, their fruit will his reward be. 

67. If he dare use his life in time to pamper pride and 
worldly selfishness, what will he be in the coming eternity? 

68. Great and fearful is the contrast between the true 
child of God and the dark-minded child of earth ! 

69. The one drinketh deep of the fountain whence the 
living waters flow; the other of the bowl of bitterest grief 
and woe partaketh daily ! 

70. Great indeed is the contrast between light and dark- 
ness, between heaven and earth, God and his opposite. 



14:6 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

Oh; do thou, howsoever lowly and degraded, appeal unto 
thy God to shed upon thee his light, and his restoring love 
shall encourage thee to forsake that which thou hast been, 
and enable thee to again walk upright in the sight of 
Heaven. 

71. Oh, with light from above, view thyself. See how, 
in the eyes of purity, thou dost stand. 

72. Uncover all, for God seeth thee. Lay thy spirit bare 
before him, and humbly ask for help. 

73. Thou hast seen what man was when he dwelt with 
God and held communion with him, and oh, believe. that 
that which hath been can again be. 

74. Thou hast been shown those essences and powers of. 
which thou wert composed; been taught their connection 
with thy Father in Heaven ; and with enlarged understand- 
ing view thyself; see where error lieth and where truth 
should be, and then get thee to thy task. 

75. Bring back the steps that would lead thee into error ; 
curb the thought that would clo no good ; smother it within 
thee, and it will not again seek utterance. 

76. Thou hast seen thou wert the child of God, only de- 
pendent upon hkn; then fear not to approach thy Father 
when thou art unable to proceed. Thou wilt find him of 
easy access; he will not repulse thee, but as. thou wouldst 
forgive thy erring child, so will he abundantly bless thee. 

77. Thou mayest have been taught by those who mis- 
represent God by their own perverted individuality, that 
he was a God of wrath, whose vengeance was terrible ; 
but verily thy position is far preferable unto such teach- 
ers'. 

78. They know not the light, yet sell their own inven- 
tions as such to their more ignorant" brethren; 

79. Within thyself must thou turn, and God will give 
thee instructions. Do not ask man if such instructions be 
correct ; for they were given unto thee, and none other can 
comprehend them so well as thou canst. 

80. Thy connection with God is eternal. Thy connection 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 149 

with man is as a brother, whom thou shonldst do unto as 
God within thee shall dictate. 

81. Thy connection with the creation below thee is 
formed within thy being for thy good. 

S2. The earth shall of her choicest food give thy body 
strength, and in return thou slialt till and cultivate it. 
This labor is exclusively for thy body's development. Thy 
spirit shall influence the body, and by it be influenced in 
return. 

83. The spirit doth not produce the body, neither can 
the body produce spirit. 

84. On earth they are connected, yet all is for the glory 
of God. If the body be not fed from that of which it was 
produced, whence could food come ? It is material, and of 
matter must receive nourishment. 

85. The spirit, though connected with' matter, is from 
God, and must receive nourishment therefrom. 

86. The mind, as hath been said, is that in which spirit 
and matter blend to produce the oneness of the Man. 

87. If the mind be overbalanced by a superior develop- 
ment of material organs, then as a consequence the indi- 
vidual traces after matter or earthly things, for therein is 
affinity. 

88. Such developments are hard for the spiritual power 
to overcome, for all outside influences conspire against it ; 
and when habit hath formed passions, then indeed is hope 
almost extinct in the spirit. 

89. Yet so sure as God is greater than the earth of which 
the body is formed, so sure is the spirit of every man 
greater, and can overcome, if permitted, the lowest and 
most degraded forms of animal passions. 

90. Passion hath run wild with unheeded sway; the 
spirit hath groaned in agony ; the brain hath by some 
great grief been almost frenzied ; the material is weak- 
ened, and the spirit poureth over the mind her sweet sooth- 
ing balm — a man is saved, and again commences on the 
long-forsaken upward path. 



150 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

91. Thy body only requireth food and raiment ; and 
when from the earth thou hast received these, all is re- 
ceived that it hath power to give. 

92. Thy body only requireth food to keep its connection 
with the living spirit perfect. It only requireth raiment to 
keep away the biting cold of winter, or the scorching heat 
of summer. 

93. And shouldst thou degrade thyself by the worship 
of that with which thou art fed ? that which passeth from 
thee even whilst thou art eating? 

94. Shouldst thou elevate into an idol that which only 
keeps thee warm, or which keeps thee cool ? 

95. A Man descend to worship weeds! Bow in humble 
submission before a man, because clothed in costlier gar- 
ments ! Degrade thyself in Heaven's sight to crave favor 
from an earthly slave ! 

96. Is this thy proper connection with the creation ? 

97. If it were, what must be thy connection with 
God? 

98. Man, the child of God, King over creation, can that 
come from earth which will elevate thee? 

99. If so, w T hy did not thy Creator leave thee as but a 
statue ? why from his own spirit produce thee in his own 
eternal image. 

100. Dust thy body is, and unto dust will most surely 
return ; but thy spirit is of God, and can not feed upon 
dust as the serpent that crawleth beneath thy heel. 

101. The earth is thy Father's. Thou canst not own it; 
and if thou dost hold it, and reap abundantly of its fruit, 
yet give not unto thy needy brother, in the sight of God 
art thou by thy selfishness condemned. 

102. The earth, and all from it produced, is secondary 
unto the spirit of man. Yea, all the creation will retreat 
into chaos, ere one of God's children can perish. 

103. That came from chaos at his command. The spirit 
came from within his own pure spirit, and hath thus pow- 
ers which all the combined creation can not produce. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 151 

104 Yet all have part in man ! He hath power over all 
save God ! 

105. And should he, so exalted, wish for or crave ex- 
altation in the sight of material eyes from the creation 
produced? 

106. Those who seek power to rule on earth, proportion- 
ally lose power in Heaven. 

107. The energies of the spiritual nature are perverted 
to subserve selfish ends, and the spirit must be thns eter- 
nally retarded. 

108. All matter was produced from chaos, and surely if 
man seek chaos he can not thus elevate himself in the sight 
of God, who created him to role in Heaven. 

109. If he take unto his bosom the dust of earth, in the 
sight of God his perverted love rendereth him earthy. 

110. As ye act, so in the sight of God ye are. Earth and 
all of the silly pride connected with its possession can not 
hide thee or paint thee unto his vision. 

111. If He see thee offering daily sacrifices unto the 
fields and fruits of earth, yet never turning thy eyes to- 
ward Him, never asking His counsel, what must He think 
of thee His child ? 

112. And how must thou lower thyself? for remember 
thou art thy own judge. If thou dost labor for earth, there 
is no reward in Heaven. 

113. If thou dost pile around thee heaps of earth, thy 
load is so much heavier, thy passage in proportion slower. 

114. Dust can not enter Heaven. From the confines of 
perfect darkness it came, and must return to fill the 
vacancy. ' 

115. In the perfect mind of God the creation was con- 
ceived, and from it created. 

116. The earth was stored with beauty. Perfect loveli- 
ness dwelt upon its sunlighted face. Rich and health- 
giving fruits grew, blossomed, and bore. 

117. Grains of greatest nourishment filled the ground, 
sprung up, and yielded ample fold. The clear waters 



152 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

gushed forth from the mountain's side, and wound their 
silver course to the mighty Father of "Waters. 

118. All things conspired to please and gratify the com- 
ing child of God. 

119. Behold he came. All had been molded to gratify 
the taste his Father intended to give him, and the ends 
were all accomplished. 

120. His pure, and perfect child did eat, drink, grow, 
and develop to perfection all his powers. And all was 
very good. 

121. This was and still is the proper connection of man 
with the creation below. 

122. Oh, wouldst thou but drop thy material eyes, and 
view the earth around thee, it would seem far more lovely 
to thee, and of far more use in thy proper spiritual devel- 
opment. 

123. Thou wouldst see that God had indeed made all 
good that was made. 

124. The earth, viewed with unselfish eyes, is far more 
beautiful than man can in his contracted view conceive. 



CHAPTER VII. 

1. Matter was made for Man, and not man for matter. 
The instant a man gives the outward more weight and 
more thought than the inward, that instant doth he lower 
himself. 

2. It is a pitiable sight to see an immortal spirit chained, 
as it were, to a load of error and ignorance, the fruit of 
unholy seed planted by corrupt passions. 

3. As thou dost live amongst the things of earth, as thou 
dost use them, so dost thou help or hinder thy spiritual 
progression. 

4. Thy mind being the battle-ground in which spirit and 
matter contend for sway, as the one succeeds, the other 
must fail. 

5. If thy mind be overbalanced by coveting organs, thou 
wilt soon become the slave of avarice ; and if by it thou 
art governed, fearful indeed is thy position. 

6. "Wouldst thou covet that which God hath freely given \ 
Wouldst thou stand in his sight a revealed thief? And 
what better art thou if thou dost hide away that which 
would do a, brother good ? 

7. As God hath given thee power to think, and thought 
fed thy spirit with holy joy, upon him should thy thoughts 
center. Thou shouldst not pervert his holy gift, and make 
it the slave of erring, avaricious man. 

8. Thou mayest deceive man, but God never. 

9. Think not that because man can not see thy plotting 
thoughts, that they are invisible. 

10. Thoughts live, and thou wilt find them the swift and 
sure witnesses that shall exalt or condemn thee. 

11. God doth not wait for the consummation of thy 



154 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

thoughts in action, for all action in thee is outward ; but in 
the immutable laws in which thought moves, art thou 
recorded precisely as thou art. 

12. This record is eternal as the thoughts of Deity, 
whence thy power to think cometh. Thou art free if not 
willfully bound by thy own passions ; thou canst attract as 
thou wilt, and as thou dost attract, so wilt thou surely re- 
ceive. 

13. Open those organs which should increase thy energy 
in the heavenward passage, by striving to ascend ; and in- 
stead of love's pure incense, pour upon them the bitter 
juice of hatred, and thou art prepared for thoughts and 
actions of deepest and darkest nature. 

14. If thou dost thus feed thy spirit — if thou constantly 
bring it fruits of earth to feed upon, instead of joys in 
Heaven, thou must suffer ; for the spirit can not turn mat- 
ter into spirit, and all thy feeding will only the more starve 
thee. 

15. The earth and the fruits thereof are given unto the 
children of God. 

16. He hath not let it out unto a few, but unto each and 
every one in the giving of life hath given guarantee that 
the life should be nourished. 

11. Would a just God give life without sustaining it ? 
Would a loving Father create a child for misery to con- 
stantly dwell within its being ? 

18. Behold the difference between God and man. 

19. The one gave existence, and therein gave all that 
could be given ; the other, inheritor of this great gift, con- 
tracts and concentrates this existence into a thing within 
its own selfishness gratified ! 

20. God gave all. This established all ; and as God is 
perfect good, so must his child imitate him to be purely, 
perfectly happy. 

21. If he leave the earth, yet retain its soiling care and 
influence upon his garments, he can not enter the place 
whence the earth was given. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 155 

22. Let him first wash clean his skirts, as for a journey 
to his Father's house, and then at any moment can he 
start if called upon. If he be filthy he will not be wanted, 
for only the pure can enter purity. 

23. Those who enter the garden clean and white, yet in 
the labor become soiled and stained, can not carry fruits 
unto the Master's house ; whereas those who kept pure 
and spotless, will fill their baskets with choicest fruits, and 
be most welcome guests at the Master's table. 

24. Those who eat their share in the garden must go in 
empty, for they are laboring for themselves. 

25. The Master judgeth by the amount of fruit each 
bringeth with him, and if one hath eaten his portion, what 
remaineth ? 

26. Thou canst not labor for God with a closed hand. 

27. Be ever willing to give, knowing that God hath a 
receiver in every one who asks. 

28. He only asks his own, and in giving He fixes thy 
pleasure. 

29. If thou hast abundantly, thou art the more abund- 
antly responsible. That which thou dost possess on earth 
belongeth thereunto. Time dwelleth upon the ever-chang- 
ing earth — eternity surrounds and envelops them both. 

30. If to time thou art given ; if thou art in life only 
engaged in treading her dial-plate, and at every second 
adding unto thy selfish nature, in the end, when the sand 
is out, where wilt thou stand % 

31. One good deed — one kind, encouraging word, or one 
pure, fervent aspiration is worth more unto a dying man 
than all the earth combined. 

32. Oh, how dark looks the long selfish life as the poor 
sufferer is casting about among its rubbish for one good 
action! 

33. How small, then, seemeth that over which he once 
exulted ! 

34 He hath lands, wealths, and worldly honors ; yet 
these are not that after which he is seeking. 



156 THE HEALING OF THE NATION^. 

35. Oh, could he begin again! or could he live to use 
righteously that which was unrighteously hoarded, all 
would be well ! The Messenger hath come ; Hope hath 
gone home, and the poor spirit groaus in agony. 

36. Years worse than wasted, tears spurned, the famish- 
ing mother rejected— frozen on the door-step, with the 
famishing babe at her breast! All now assemble around 
his bed — the fiends of the mind which hath constantly re- 
pulsed and trampled upon the poor spirit within. 

37. Frenzied with fever, parched, stiffened in body, yet, 
oh, God, how that mind is tortured ! All seems to conspire 
against him. 

38. Can not God's mercy sway for an instant his justice? 
"Will not the Father spare his child ? Alas, he did not ask. 
Shook and rent with horror, the spirit could not regain her 
long lost sway ; and in a future world must commence the 
journey which should have been completed on Earth. 

39. The body worshiped Earth, and was for its accumu- 
lation worshiped in return. 

40. Laid in a gilded sepulcher, food for worms, is the 
last offering on the dusty shrine, and soon all is forgotten 
save his outward effects. 

41. Over these the fierce contention rages by those who 
were as he, and as he will be, when they in turn leave all 
behind, save a consciousness of many mispent years on 
Earth. 

42. The scene changes. An a^ed form is vonder reclin- 
ing under the boughs of that tree which in childhood his 
own hands planted. 

43. The setting sun gilds his brow and the soft zephyr 
waves his stragcrlinff hair. 

44. Tears are coursing down his cheek ; but as he casts 
his eye upward, the expression of the face, the moving lip, 
we know that the evening hour is arrived in which he 
walks with and communes with his Father in Heaven. 

45. He hath blessed his kind. His labor was crowned 
with success. The Earth, beneath his tilling, yielded her 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 157 

willing fruits ; Man, his brother, from the same hand re- 
ceived them as they were thankfully given. 

46. At his door want was a constant seeker; yet ere his 
locks were gray, the youthful bread cast upon the waters 
returned to bless-him again and again. 

47. He knew God was his Father, and did not forget 
that man was his brother ; and whosoever that kind Father 
sent was sure to go away blessing him and his liberal child. 

48. 'Twas a bleak night : the chilling snow new wildly ; 
the winds whistled, the old trees groaned, and even the old 
homestead windows shook and vibrated in their oaken 
casements. 

49. Seated around the evening table, on which was 
stored the healthy food abundantly, were the happy family. 
Mirth was high, for the w T arm room contrasted vividly with 
the cold, gray night without. 

50. The father springs to his feet ! Horror is depicted 
upon his countenance. All is still save the crackling fire, 
the purring cat, and the raging storm without. 

51. Upon the Ear breaks a low, wailing sound. The 
watch-dog rises, but is bid be quiet. The father rises and 
opens the door. There, before his eyes sits a mother; at 
her breast a little babe, but grief and cold have chilled the 
currents in which the sweet food was wont to flow, and the 
little sufferer mingles its tiny wail w T ith that of the howl- 
ing storm. 

52. Oh, how that man's heart beats ; his brow throbs, 
and tears course down his cheeks ; he thanks God that they 
have come. 

53. They are brought in to the fire; the wife takes the 
little one, and with warm, nourishing food feeds it, feeling 
amply repaid for her trouble by the trusting smile of the 
infant. The children vie with each other in kind offices, 
and the poor sufferer offers up unto Almighty God her hum- 
ble thanks for this timely salvation. 

54. No questions are asked ; she is one of God's needy 
children, and that is enough. 



158 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

55. Such scenes as this are flitting before the old man's 
spirit, and 'tis no wonder that the silent tears are flow- 
ing. 

56. It is no wonder that he feels thankful for such deeds. 
God hath blessed his aged mind with the peace which only 
such actions can merit. 

57. He longs for his Home, and as he totters on his staff 
he feels that this night the messenger is coming. 

58. Around his bed are gathered the silent children 
waiting for his hour to come. Peace is written in sweet, 
smiling confidence upon his aged face. 

59. It is hard to part with that good man ; yet they have 
been taught to feel "Thy will be done," and do not mur- 
mur. 

60. He tells them of his inward peace, and of the 
life which hath led him unto its enjoyment ; and tells 
them to be good stewards unto the Lord, and all will be well. 

61. The Messenger hath come. He kisses them, blesses 
them, and his calm features settle away into the cold smile 
of Death. 

62. The deeds of that man follow him. 

63. These scenes are placed before thee that thou mayest 
see by vivid contrast thy path and its consequences. 

64. Thou hast existence and must act, for all existence is 
active, and as thou dost act so thou art. 

65. Thy connection with the lower creation connects thee 
with thy brother man outwardly. 

GG. Ye are both in the same field, picking the same 
fruits, and must either help or hinder each other. 

67. It is a fearful thing to heap up mounds of earth in a 
brother's path — to place temptation in his way at every 
step. Remember thou art among God's children, and he 
loveth them. 

6S. As thou dost cramp the energies of thy brother, or 
misdirect his steps, so art thou by his spirit condemned. 
Thy influence doth cramp his mind, and in it the spirit 
dwells, which, though inseparably connected with God by 



THE HEALING OF THE NATION'S. 159 

cords thou canst not sever, is also connected with thee by 
all outside ties as a brother. 

69. Unto God is he responsible, and so art thou, and 
thus this responsibility can never clash; but in an out- 
ward sense and through more dense channels are ye mutu- 
ally responsible for each other. 

TO. If thou dost by thy passions overbalance thy broth- 
er's mind, and upon unhealthy organs play by thy superior 
strength, thou art not only responsible for thy own per- 
verted powers, so far as thyself is concerned, but also 
unto God doth his spirit complain of thee as an enemy 
unto its peace. 

71. If a trusting brother be by thee deceived, and in 
action do, wrongly, thou art in a fearful position. 

72. And if in after Kfe he form passions through th& in- 
fluence of thy deception, though he may see his error, thou 
art unto God responsible for his child. 

73. If thou dost not know what right is, thou canst not 
in the sight of God do wrong ; yet if thou dost not seek to 
know, therein art thou to blame. 

74. God never planted dead seed. Within thee is the 
seed of knowledge, and upon it shines the quickening light 
of God. 

75. No man was ever left without sufficient light for his 
own seed. God is just. That which he hath created is 
good. Turn within thee where lie is manifest, and thou 
wilt glorify him forever. 

7G. There are those among men who presume to teach, 
yet are themselves most ignorant. 

77. They love not the light of God more than the favor 
of man. Their teaching is dead. From their mouths flow 
muddy streams ; no pure nourishment for the hungry spirit 
cometh from them. 

78. They commence with perversion, and end in blas- 
phemy. Through their mind can not come the pure spirit- 
ual truths, for they have formed passions which absorb all 
the spiritual powers in their unholy action. 



160 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

79. Their desire after renown becomes the worst and 
most degraded form of avarice — light measures darkness. 
Their light, their perverted powers, their contracted selfish 
vision condemns them. 

80. They reduce the holiest calling — teachers of God's 
truth — into a dead, dry, dusty mass ! 

SI. Uncouth and sickly ! Horrid distortions, in hatred 
bred, and in anger born ! 

82. With grim and sallow faces they sing their silly 
cant, and in bitter wrath condemn those who will not 
listen ! 

83. They wrap their darkened spirit in sable mantles, 
and pity those who enjoy life ! 

84. First in council, last in reform ; first in their own 
sight, last in God's ; controllers of the ignorant, yet them- 
selves most blind ! 

85. Their blindness is willful, else are they not con- 
demned. 

86. To teach sight, yet not know the light, is to err. 

87. If thou canst not find the light, whose eyes will fit 
thy organization ? 

88. If a man say, "I know," suspect him of pride. If he 
say, " I hope," then listen, for wherein is hope, there is 
hope for that spirit, indeed, and thou canst safely trust it. 

89. Of all action and conversation thou shalt be thy own 
judge, yet never thy brother's. 

90. If he preach false gods unto thee, be sure thou know- 
est the right one ere thou removest them from before him. 

91. He can not show unto thy vision as he seeth ; and in 
his spirit God may see himself reflected, yet thy vision is 
at best imperfect. 

92. Those who judge God, and preach unto his children 
the fruits of their imperfect judgment, will of necessity be 
judged by their own preaching. 

93. They form their own tribunal, and are their own 
judges. 

94. If thou dost feel thou art right and hast more knowl- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 161 

edge of truth than thy brother, do not smother it, for that 
were wrong. Cast out thy thoughts, and let those who 
gather scan them well ere they take them- home to their 
spirit. 

95. If thou knowest, it is as criminal not to teach as is it 
to teach if thou knowest not. 

96. The more simple thy outward occupations, the more 
easily art thou influenced aright. 

97. Be simple, plain, and honest. Walk among men 
shunning observation. Never take conspicuous and re- 
sponsible positions on earth, lest thy outward connections 
should weaken thy inward connection with thy Father in 
Heaven. 

98. Oh, thou dost not know the full extent of thy priv- 
ileges ! True exaltation can not be given by any save 
God. If thou dost rule among men, a heavy weight is 
attached unto thee, which, if thou art not very strong, will 
sink thee below the position thy Father designed thee to 
have in Heaven. 

99. Thou canst not be exalted save by the favor of thy 
Heavenly Father, as hath again and again been said ; and 
when man would elate' or elevate thee into a Kuler, turn 
away, knowing, as thou must know, that no imperfect man 
can rule justly. 

11 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1. From the minutest atom unto perfected man, all are 
governed by the perfect laws of God's love and intelli- 
gence. 

2. There is no want unsupplied, no supply not wanted. 
Chaos gave up her dark atoms in obedience unto the de- 
mand of God. His light penetrated them, and his love 
cemented them into bodies of greater and still greater 
dimensions. And know, oh man, that these essences are 
the rulers in God's creation — always obedient and sub- 
servient unto his holy and supreme will. 

3. Thou art outwardly a product of atoms. Beautiful 
and symmetrical art thou ; upon thy brow is written by 
the hand of God in deep lines the product of his own 
thought. Thou dost move an embodiment of God's Ideal. 
Yet thou art of dust composed ! That fine eye and majestic 
brow, those dark locks and transparent skin, those finely 
molded limbs ; all, all save God within thy spirit given, is 
dust, the product of Atoms ! 

4. God formed thee of them. They can not degrade thy 
spirit; it can ennoble them. They can not enter Heaven, 
yet have by Heaven been entered. Thy spirit governs 
them through God's attributes — not them govern thee. 

5. They need laws, and God gave them. Classification 
and arrangement, attraction and repulsion, formation and 
dissection, combination and dissolution, are all products of 
God's laws, created in the production of the atoms con- 
trolled. 

6. So much greater as thou art than matter, so much is 
thy spirit above material laws. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 163 

7. Matter is governed in thy body by precisely the same 
laws, as it is without thee in the outer creation. 

8. Thou wilt fall or rise, if the spiritual power be inert, 
as will any similar body composed of the same amount of 
atomic weight. 

9. Thou art attracted to the earth as the stone. 

10. Thou dost of the earth receive nourishment, as the 
ox. In short, thy atomic nature is in affinity with the 
atoms of the earth and their laws. 

11. Thus thy body needs no laws, having been in its 
creation supplied with all that could be necessary for its 
government. 

12. Thy spirit is above all laws and above all essences 
which now therein. 

13. God created thy spirit from within his own, and 
surely the Creator of law is above it; the Creator of 
essences must be above all essence created. And if thou 
hast what may be, or might be termed laws, they are 
always subservient unto thy spirit.- 

14. If a law cramp thy spirit, that law is wrong. 

15. Remember that the mind of man is a combination of 
spirit and matter. And if the minds of men be not swayed 
by the spiritual power, their resultant laws will of neces- 
sity injure the spirit by encroaching upon its privileges. 

16. Selfish law-givers can not give good laws, for their 
mind is not under the proper regulation itself, and surely 
an irregular motive power can not give a true and regular 
resultant motion. 

17. Whereas, if the spirit hath sway, no laws are needed, 
for the body is already governed, and the spirit, being in 
harmony with God, needs no governing. 

18. Laws are dead letters, which are secondary unto all 
the parties concerned, not only in the outer creation, but 
in the ruling of man. 

19. Simplicity of conduct is sufficient law for man. 

20. If a man do wrong, what law, save the law through 
which true knowledge floweth, can make him right? 



1G1 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

21. Surely, if one do wrong, being wronged by the mass 
in return will not remove it, but greatly increase the error. 

22. Good men need no laws, and laws will do bad or 
ignorant men no good, especially when expounded by 
those more selfish and really more ignorant than the erring 
one. 

23. If a man can not see the folly of all laws in connec- 
tion with man, save those God gave in his creation, he does 
not know enough to expound the rules such as he shall 
produce. 

24. A man who is gifted with superior spiritual powers 
can comprehend the true laws for man's government. He 
must be above the laws in development to apply them 
properly to his fellow-man. 

25. If a man be above the law, he should never be gov- 
erned by it. If he be below, what good can dead, dry- 
words do him ? Fear is not elevation, neither is constraint 
love. 

26. Kulers make laws, and laws sustain rulers. 

27. Keverse the order. Let selfishness feed, instead of 
being fed, and there would be a great increase in honesty 
and truth. 

28. Simple, plain men are honest ; then what are those 
who weave complex webs, and so entangle honesty and 
dishonesty, truth and falsehood, that an honest and true 
man would not touch the mixture ; or, if he did, would be 
soiled by the contact. 

29. It is a great mistake to punish for the violation of 
laws which must at best be imperfect. 

30. God's laws are perfect, and, consequently, to vio- 
late them is to suffer. 

31. If a law be imperfect, who should obey it ? and what 
man or set of men can form perfection ? 

32. True knowledge removeth all laws from power by 
placing the spirit of man above it. 

33. From God the guidance and protection cometh. His 
power entereth the spirit of his child. Truth is by pure 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 165 

light revealed. It bursts forth, spurning all laws, and in 
brilliant glow illuminates the speech of its firm and fear- 
less advocate. 

31. Threats are of no avail ; mistaken friendship unheed- 
ed as the Man walks erect in the sight of God. 

35. The fiery Stake, the loathsome Prison, the bigoted 
Betrayers of God's trust, the solemn law and its framers 
and executors, are all as so much chaff before the whirl- 
wind of pure truth, as it floweth from the good man's 
mouth. 

36. He hath seen God's ways, and the ways of Man can 
not sway him from his duty unto them and his Father. 

37. For such men laws are useless. 

38. They can not engage in law-making, for they know 
that each man hath his own laws of spirit separate from all 
other spirits, because he is himself separate and distinct 
from all. 

39. The same amount of light can not enter two spirit- 
children of God, and can not govern them equally, or give 
equal results. 

40. Each separate individual organization would have to 
be governed by a separate rule, did man's laws become 
just; and if they are unjust, surely they can not give 
justice. 

41. And as no man can measure another's spirit, as he 
can not see his brothers comprehension or capability, all 
would at last center upon the only true rule of govern- 
ment, which is the voice of God within his child. 

42. True knowledge of God's love and of his light, in 
their numberless variations and combinations, shows 
nothing but the loveliest harmony. 

43. Those things which are termed inanimate, are in re- 
ality as much the fruit of these pure essences as is the 
body of man. 

44. God hath instilled into the most remote and most 
inanimate atom, blessings which it can not comprehend 
beyond. 



166 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

45. The same law holds good up the vast ascent to the 
outward form of man. 

46. The mind swayed by material organs can not get be- 
yond the comprehension those organs give. 

47. The laws governing matter are fixed, and inseparably 
connected with the matter governed. 

48. Hence if the material mind makes laws or rules of 
government contrary to those inherent in the matter gov- 
erned, they must be constantly liable to violation. 

49. Man did not create himself. He can not remove 
from under the control, or annihilate the laws of his be- 
ing. Then why, in the face of all this knowledge of his 
own weakness, presume to lay down laws for the govern- 
ment of that which God already governs in perfection ? 

50. If God can not protect his children, can man, with 
all his tangled fabrications, shield him? 

51. Good men need no protection. Bad men need pro- 
tection, because they are ignorant of God's Love. 

52. Teach them the true knowledge, and they will see 
and thankfully acknowledge that they have thus been pro- 
tected from the errors of ignorance. 

53. The laws of Mind are the combination channels con- 
necting the highest developed matter with that of lower 
development. 

54. Mind can not be governed correctly by any laws or 
rules it is capable of framing. 

55. The human Mind can not live in a stationary po- 
sition. It must grow and develop, or contract and die. 

56. It is never healthy without striving after some object 
above and beyond its present attainment. 

57. This arises from the spirit's connection in it. It 
longeth after its home, which is ever above and beyond its 
present. 

58. If the spirit can not sway the material portion of the 
mind, then, as a natural consequence, the mind must de- 
scend, or become more and more material, governed more 
and still more by the laws developing matter. 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATIONS. 167 

59. Matter grows and develops in man under laws as 
fixed as the laws which develop the grain, the bush, or the 
great tree. 

60. And as these laws are arbitrary, man's only elevation 
can come from a reliance upon the spirit, and the laws in 
which it moves in harmony. 

61. The mind is below spirit. The powers of the human 
mind are below the privileges of the fully developed spirit. 
It is the great connection between God and his creation ; 
and, properly swayed by the scintillation of his own spirit, 
is a bright and lovely composition. 

62. The spirit of man wields its weapons, and all below 
falls before it. 

63. The mighty Eiver is handled as the rivulet; the 
roaring Ocean, the fiery Lightning, the rock-ribbed Moun- 
tains, all fall before matter they themselves furnished, 
swayed by the living spirit of Man. 

64. Yet, with all its power, it is far below the sublime 
height spirit unmixed with matter can attain. 

65. If impurity can attain a given height ; if the spirit 
can to a certain degree of comprehension draw up its load 
of matter, how much higher and how much freer must it 
soar when all the dust in which it dwelt is forever left 
below ! 

66. As Mind grows dizzy with the great height, the 
spirit longs for freedom, that it may soar into the confines 
of Heaven's broad domain in search of that which the im- 
pure or material can never comprehend. 

67. And should the spirit be anchored fast on earth be- 
cause its house is there ? 

68. It is in a strange land, and the husks are being eaten 
among swine. It longs for its home. 

69. Oh, man, why dost thou not let the poor child free ? 
God, its loving Father, wishes its companionship. He 
wishes to commune with his child. 

70. Let thy spirit free ; bind it not in chaining laws — 
thou art above all thou canst produce. 



168 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

71. As God is above his creation, so art thou above all 
created. 

72. Oh, stoop not ! If men do crown thee, and in thy 
hand the ruling scepter place, be thou firm, and steadfastly 
refuse their favor. 

73. They can not make right or wrong for thee. 

74. Neither canst thou execute justly for them. 

75. God created Law, and fills it with his own power. 

76. If thou dost presume to clutch from thy Father's 
hand his scepter, and with perverted power sway the poor 
deluded crowd of his own children, how wilt thou appear 
in his pure sight? 

77. He hath made thee responsible for thyself; and 
wouldst thou tell Him thou hast greater power than He 
did give thee ? 

78. "Wouldst thou heedlessly become responsible for the 
temptations, perversions, and errors thy course would 
place in the path of the multitude ? 

79. Never presume to judge save for thy own good, for 
in God's sight thou mayest be worse or less developed than 
the one thou hast judged. 

SO. Every man knoweth there is condemnation which 
cometh not from man. There is also elevation, or an in- 
ward exaltation, which all the favors of man can not equal. 

81. These are the reward for fulfillment, and punishment 
for transgression of the laws of God. 

82. His Government is all invisible ; for Himself is in- 
visible, and governing laws are the fruits of His will. 

83. He punishes His child only for its good, and His 
punishment is never by outer eyes witnessed. He does 
not hold up the sufferer to ridicule, and increase thereby 
the passion and consequent guilt of the crowd, but in the 
still watches of the night is the tribunal formed in the 
spirit of the erring one. 

84. The violation of His laws brings punishment. 

85. Their fulfillment bringeth happiness and knowledge ; 
and so in a measure does the opposite — violation — for the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 169 

law is fixed, and once violating and once suffering bringeth 
knowledge of the law ; 

86. Thus proving the Harmony and Perfection of God's 
government. The Love flowing in his laws saturates the 
wound, and it healeth. His Love ruleth in the channels 
termed law. He giveth a balm for every error in the error 
itself, which balm is the knowledge by the violation earned. 

87. He worketh His own glory out of all opposing ele- 
ments, and man must imitate Him. 

88. If a man know error, and useth not his knowledge, 
he is erring himself. 

89. Unto God there is no error ; all is comparative good. 
Chaos is God's opposite ; and, as he giveth happiness, 
peace, and knowledge, that must, in all whom it enters, 
give the opposite unto them. 

90. And herein canst thou judge between them. If thou 
art unhappy, think well whom thou art serving. Remem- 
ber thou art above the law. Wert thou governed by it, all 
would be w T ell ; but thou, through thy spiritual privileges, 
canst arise and go unto thy Father for counsel, or stoop, 
and upon the unknown waves of arbitrary laws have thy 
bark beaten in pieces. 

91. In creating, God designed all the earth, and even the 
arbitrary laws of matter, to be under the control of his 
child placed thereon. 

92. To accomplish this great design, man must of ne- 
cessity have the material laws inherent in his being. 

93. He did never intend that man should labor with his 
hands. His mind was the field of labor for him, for there- 
in was the concentration of all material powers ; and to 
properly understand the human mind and its powers, is to 
understand the earth, and all the laws in which it moves 
and through which it is governed. 

94. The law that plants, plants again in the reaping of the 
harvest. And if the harvest be not reaped, the seed can 
never die. but will bloom and bear, fall again into the earth, 
be beaten therein and covered by the warm rains of summer, 



170 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

strengthened by the frosts of winter, nourished by the sun 
of spring, until again comes forth the seed abundantly. 

95. The sun, the moon, the countless brilliant stars, are 
all ministers unto the wants of the children of God. 

96. It seemeth strange unto the ignorant that God would 
provide so much for them ; yet their ignorance can never 
measure his knowledge, their weakness can not compre- 
hend his power. 

97. If thou art the child of the Creator of these bodies, 
thou must be above them all ; and howsoever weak or igno- 
rant thou mayest be, there is that within thy being which 
the whole creation could not produce. 

98. Thou canst apply Knowledge unto inanimate matter, 
and it moves under thy guidance with immense power. 

99. The blending of thy spiritual knowledge and the 
material knowledge produced from the matter of thy brain 
upon which the spirit plays, will give idleness unto thy 
hands, and most instructive and pleasing activity unto thy 
mind. 

100. Thy feet were made to walk the earth, yet thy brain 
can build that which will carry thee with almost lightning 
speed in perfect safety. And still thou art most ignorant 
of thy powers. 

101. Thou canst curb the Lightning, and safely guide it 
by the use of material means ; yet thou hast not discovered 
that thought can leave it far behind, and accomplish its 
mission much more effectually. 

102. God, the unlimited, can be at one time in all places. 
Man, the limited, can send his thoughts with unerring pre- 
cision to any given place instantly. 

103. This is not all. Those thoughts can, by a passive, 
harmonious spirit, be comprehended and immediately an- 
swered. This can never be accomplished without har- 
mony, l<>r the same channels must be used in which Deity 
views instantly his whole creation. 

In I. Thy hands would never have to labor. That which 
thou wouldst do would be but to execute the dictates of 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 171 

thy own enlightened mind, and would amply repay thee in 
the abundant pleasure obtained even in the act. 

105. To attain this exalted position thou must be patient, 
honest, and truthful. 

106. Study well the lines of true knowledge. 

107. Within thyself be honest, giving thy own powers 
sway. 

108. Never forget that thou hast some very good quali- 
ties different from those with whom thou dost come in 
contact, and that it is thy duty to develop such qualities. 

109. Harmony among men would produce great results. 
All the different good qualities would reveal themselves, 
and, in the companionship of other harmonious qualities^ 
would be in strength and loveliness increased. 

110. All men are naturally different in some respects. 

111. Hence, when upon any given point they strive to 
agree, it is in reality a disagreement, unnatural to each in- 
dividual. Unless it be for each one to judge, decide, and 
act for himself in those things which he feels himself most 
adapted unto the accomplishment of. 

112. Thy brain can not produce the precise conclusion in 
regard to a disputed point that thy brother's will. They 
may look at the same object, yet different powers are 
operating, and must produce different results. 

113. You may both view the most simple object, yet in 
each eye is it different. You may agree upon a name, yet 
the name does not unto your two minds convey the same 
object. 

114. The little blade of grass, viewed by the geologist, 
chemist, agriculturist, or the unlearned, is entirely and 
widely different, still is it the same blade of grass. 

115. It makes no difference how thou dost look, so that 
thou dost seek knowledge ; for knowledge will come and 
take the shape best adapted unto thy own peculiar organi- 
zation. Seek, and thy part is accomplished. 



CHAPTER IX. 

1. The creation, so far as matter extends, is the product 
of atoms. Thou canst find, by pulverizing, that Indivisi- 
bility hath no part in matter. Of these atoms, thou and thy 
brain are composed in unison. One atom added or sub- 
tracted in thy body or brain makes thee different from 
what thou wast before. Then, in view of this fact, thou 
must know that no two bodies or brains can be in God's 
view precisely alike, nor can they produce the same re- 
sults. 

2. From these truths thou canst see that the study of 
thy connection with the lower creation is one of vast ex- 
tent. To balance the creation perfectly, and know to a 
certainty that it balances, is within the scope of the pow- 
ers of man. 

3. "Within thy mind is the labor for thee. Thy brow 
must sweat because the brain within it worketh. Thy 
hands shall pluck the abundant fruit and satisfy the animal 
desire for food, but thy mind must labor for thy exaltation. 

4. Within thy mind must first be formed that which thy 
hand doth execute ; and if the hand doth not execute, the 
mind's formation is as true, and from it is as much knowl- 
edge given as though the ideal were reduced to material 
existence. 

5. Still thou wilt labor with thy hands, for thou hast not 
attained the primitive strength and purity thou didst first 
receive from God. 

6. When thou hast ceased entirely to depend upon thy 
material powers, then will God's own Laws feed thy out- 
ward body with ample food. 






THE HEALING Of THE NATIONS. 17s 

7. Thy present laborious habits curb thy spirit. Thou 
dost labor for more than subsistence requires, and by fa- 
tigue of body produce consequent fatigue of mind. 

8. If thou wast to become content with enough to eat 
and drink, and be content with warmth, and upon thy 
mind's cultivation bestow the balance of thy arduous la- 
bor, thou wouldst be an ornament unto Earth. 

9. Be ambitious to appear great in the sight of God, not 
heeding what material minds say of thee, and thou wilt be 
astonished to find how few are thy real wants. 

10. The earthy-minded love the earth because the bal- 
ance is in its favor. The greatest weight of the powers in 
the mind sways to that side, and they act and attract 
thoughts in harmony with their development. 

11. Even in the present unnatural state of man, labor 
might be in the mind higher and far greater, and with the 
hands much easier, did he once start with firm tread up the 
plane toward true knowledge. 

12. Should he dwell more in Heaven and less upon earth, 
he would find food of the first so sweet and nourishing that 
the fruits of earth would supply every desire. He would 
eat eagerly in Heaven and sparingly on Earth. As a con- 
sequence, his spiritual powers would elevate his mind unto 
a state of pure transparency, through which would shine in 
loveliness the brilliant torch within. 

13. If, on the contrary, he give the earth all thought and 
his hands all labor, what must become of the spiritual in 
his mind ? It would dwindle as the plant in the dark, be- 
come weakeped, and thus would the stronger material de- 
velopment constantly rule the mind. 

14. Oh, why upon thy body place ornaments, and within 
thy mind be dull and dusty ? Why forsake those gems 
God loveth to give, and upon the passing dust of earth 
bestow thy affection ? 

15. Let thy mind labor early and late. Let it attract 
high and holy thoughts, and they will come and dwell 
around thee. Earth will envelop thy remains, worms feed 



174 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

upon thy body ; yes, even the harp-strings thy exalted 
mind hath strung will crumble away, but the pure, en- 
lightened mind will leave them all below for regions of 
eternal joy. 

16. Upon thee God sheds his divine rays. Thou art 
cared for by his Almighty Spirit. Oh, then, what should 
thy care be, save by faithfully doing his will, to merit his 
care bestowed. 

17. If thou art daily laboring with busy hands and idle 
brains ; if thy hands receive and bestow recompense, while 
the mind idly plays, how canst thou be exalted ? 

18. Thou knowest flesh can not leave the earth ; thou 
hast seen bodies, once beautiful and lovely, stiffened and 
pale in death, yet for this thing thou dost labor ! 

19. The worms thy body feeds will not thank thee for 
thy care of it. They can not comprehend that thou hast 
labored early and late through a long life for them. 

20. They eat a king with no better relish than his hum- 
blest slave. Their comprehension is so limited, that had 
his body words, it could not convince them of its exalted 
station on earth ! 

21. It is their mission to reduce to practical elements 
that over which man hath spent so much hypocritical time, 
and they fulfill to perfection that which in their existence 
is required. 

22. If thy body were all of thee, thy destiny would not 
be worth existing for. If thou couldst not look beyond the 
pit in which are hungry worms awaiting for thee, surely 
thy living would be worse than death. 

23. Having a vision that can peer beyond the grave, 
thou shouldst not cease to use it, and use exclusively that 
which death terminates. 

24. It makes no difference how thou dost gild thy fu- 
ture or paint the far-off death, the truth is the same, thou 
must cease to exist in the body, and leave all material pos- 
sessions behind thee. 

25. That which thou art so earnestly striving to col- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 175 

lect will be as food for worms in the bodies that outlive 
thee. 

26. The Earth is God's. That which it produceth must 
remain upon it forever. 

27. God looks into thy spirit, and thy golden crown, 
with all its brilliant gems, can not sway justice in per- 
fection. 

28. Thou wilt find that matter retards spirit, if permit- 
ted to cling unto it, and with giant grasp holds it back from 
God. 

29. He will never ask thee what thy hand hath done. 

30. If He seeth that it relieved the widows' wants, and 
relieved the fatherless from temptation, the spirit that 
prompted the action will be exalted. 

31. If by thy development thou art not exalted, who is 
to blame? Thy spirit must labor, thy mind must labor, 
and thy hand give forth their good fruits unto man — then 
indeed art thou worthy of Heaven. 

32. But if thy spirit labor not, thy mind be idle, and 
thy hand labor most violently, worms eat the hand and 
the fruits of its production, and what glory hast thou 
therein ? 

33. Oh, God careth for thee, and shouldst thou only for 
his lowest developed creatures care ? Is this thy gratitude, 
this thy return for his abundant Love ? 

34. If thou hast not knowledge, thou canst not enter 
whence it floweth ; having it, thou canst not be debarred 
therefrom. 

35. Can thy hand give knowledge? Can flesh ennoble 
thee ? Oh, why seek of such things to glorify thyself? 

36. Thy Creator's spirit gave birth to Thought. It grew 
and bore fruit to nourish thee. In thought thou canst 
never be filled. Every successive step raises thy power to 
attract purity, and eternally thou dost progress. 

37. How different the toiling care of thy body ! Thou 
dost enter the world weak ; strength increases as thou dost 
walk around thy circle, until thou dost pass the meridian ; 



176 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

and then thou comest back with tottering step and childish 
ways to the point completing thy circle in death. 

38. And all of earth dies with thee, if thou hast been true 
unto God on earth. If thou hast filled full thy measure, all 
is well. Thy talents are thy judges. Thy comprehension 
regulates thy reward. 

3.9. Thou art as happy as thou canst comprehend, yet 
art thou to regulate thy comprehension by faithfulness on 
earth. 

40. If God hath formed thy brain for a given purpose, 
and hath made thee master of that brain, and, instead of 
accomplishing his purpose, thou hast attempted to thwart 
and distort thyself, how must thy comprehension be there- 
by limited ! 

41. God is greater than principles. Principles are greater 
than that which they produce. Thy thoughts produce thy 
actions, and surely they must be greater; and it must be 
of greater moment unto the spirit to have high and holy 
thoughts than to labor with thy body as hardly as it will 
bear. 

42. Draw thy lines clearly and distinctly. Do not act 
in such a manner as to cramp thy spiritual powers. Go 
hungry on earth in preference to being hungry for heavenly 
food. 

43. Labor for God always in preference unto thyself. 

44. Always have thy spiritual weight greatest. Never 
cease laboring for the glory of God. 

45. God first thought his creation. In his Spirit was 
Light busy. His will sent it forth. Yet that will was in 
harmony with the thoughts from which it resulted. Crea- 
tion was produced ; yet, had not thought previously exist- 
ed, the result had never been accomplished. 

46. Do thou strive after high and holy thoughts ; and if 
thou shouldst never be able to embody them in material, 
or even in words or signs express them, yet know that thou 
art in God's view far more lovely than if thou didst act in 
thoughtlessness. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 177 

47. Concentration of thought produceth Will. Will pro- 
duceth Action. If thy thoughts be impure, or of low 
orders, thy will must be lower and thy action weaker, or 
more in the region of matter. 

48. It is more glorious to make men attract holy thoughts 
than to feed them. It is more acceptable unto God to re- 
veal his truth to man than to clothe his body in costly 
garments. 

49. It is far better to expand the mind with fervent de- 
sires after knowledge, than to cramp it by desires after the 
limited and limiting things of earth. 

50. It is better to scale Heaven's pure walls with trust- 
ful aspirations, than to worship the good opinion of erring 
man. 

51. When thought centers in thy mind, thy will is the 
result. 

52. It forms within thee a seed, as it were, from which 
groweth actions. These actions are viewed by the wills 
within other men, and if approved by their regulating 
spirit, will again come forth in the actions of the body in 
which the will is encased. 

53. Thus thy thoughts centering in God unite thee unto 
him. Thy will, being the evidence of thy individuality, 
unites thee with, or separates thee from, all other men. 

54. Thou art judged by thy fruits. Thy will is thy fruit. 
The actions it gives forth unto the world may be hypocriti- 
cal, but God knoweth what thy will is from the thoughts 
that surround thee. 

55. Thy spirit is accountable for all that is done. And 
as thoughts are attracted, so is the will the witness that in 
its very existence proveth the source whence it came. 

56. Thou mayest do kind actions with a hating heart, 
thus deceiving man ; but that action can never sanctify 
thy hatred. 

57. If thou dost love, and man thinketh thou dost hate, 
thy will exalts thee in the sight of God. 

58. Thy most trivial action is the result of thought 

12 



178 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

59. Thus dost thou imitate thy Creator. Thou alone 
dost possess the power of thinking. Thy will, or the com- 
bination in action of the powers of thy mind, is the only 
concentration of thought on earth. They form around 
thee, as thou dost advance, a bright and still brighter at- 
mosphere. From this thou dost form still purer actions, 
the result of an ever-increasing purity of will within thee. 

60. This is the region of thy labor. As hath been said, 
thou hast matter in its greatest refinement within thyself; 
and surely it were folly to employ all thy time in the study 
of the mass without, when within thyself are all the beau- 
ties it can give, as well as all the real truths connected 
therewith. 

61. Had God intended the earth as thy pleasure-ground, 
he had not given thee such short space for the enjoyment 
of it. On earth thou must labor for thy development, for 
as thou art developed so is Heaven unto thee. 

62. Thou hast a material existence, or an existence com- 
menced in matter ; but the time spent therein, compared 
with the countless ages of eternity, is as the atom unto 
God! 

63. And wouldst thou, while in the atom, labor only for 
its glory, its dying advancement ? 

64. Oh, why shouldst thou be blessed so highly, and no 
give more recompense for thy blessings ? 

65. What art thou deprived of spirit? A poor, dead, 
worm-eaten lump of earth. Yet, in the proper union of the 
spirit with the earth, thou dost take a stand second only 
unto God ! 

66. Thou art, with Him, all — without Him, nothing! 
Oh, Man ! how little is required of thee, and how much 
God hath given ! Thou dost little give, and art never 
satisfied with receiving? Surely thou art not what thou 
mightst be. 

67. Countless blessings bless thy way on earth, and thou 
dost grasp and devour most ravenously. 

68. What proof of thy exalted powers, that thou canst 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 179 

pervert God's goodness into bitterness, his liberality into 
craftiness, his love into hate, his godliness into thy ungod- 
liness ! 

69. Why, man, thou art proving God's glory, even in 
thy very degradation ! He is perfect, and surely the more 
imperfect thou art the greater and more in his favor must 
the contrast be. Thou wilt find that the enlightened spirit 
hath no difficulty in separating thy glaring errors from 
God's pure truth. 

70. If thou dost oppose God, though thou mayest nega- 
tively glorify him by the contrast, thou art in the wrong 
position to be glorified by him. 

71. Thy imperfection does not regulate God's perfection. 

72. Thy unfaithfulness will never check his liberality. 

73. If thou hadst never existed, God's power or his love 
and light had never been less. Having existence, if thou 
dost not comprehend them surely the fault is thine own. 

74. A little time is given thee on earth, and in that time 
thou dost see all things perishing, changing, and unto thy 
sight passing away. Then why shouldst thou labor about 
and among them ? 

75. The earth is regulated by time, thou by eternity. 

76. That is the creature of a day, thou the ornament of 
a God-given eternity. That is thy feeding-place, designed 
to give thee strength and knowledge. Eternity is the home 
whence the knowledge cometh, and in which thou wilt 
learn in purity that which emanates from the eternal foun- 
tain of Light. 

77. Thou art a seed dropped in earth by God's own 
hand. 

78. Thou art nourished by His own holy attributes. 

79. His pure Light quickens thee, feeds thee with 
thought, forms the harmony of thy mind ; His Love, as a 
gentle dew, falls upon thy morning and evening wander- 
ings, and in the shade of the sunny noon He fans thee as 
a mother doth her sleeping babe. 

80. A bright seed art thou. Thy roots seek the earth, 



180 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

and draw from it the highest and purest nourishment, 
feeding thy body, producing elasticity of mind, filling per- 
fectly all thy earthly senses. Thy spirit attracts the light, 
and in love it descends as showers of blessings upon 
thee. 

81. Thou spr ingest from earth. Thy vine is trailed by 
God's appointed up the height, until thou dost in perfect 
beauty bloom in the bright and holy gardens of eternity. 

82. Of thy sweetness God doth scent. Around his 
Throne art thou twined, and thou dost fill his own presence 
with celestial incense. By thy side he resteth. In thy 
blossoms is the rich Love poured, and upon thy leaves does 
his own light play. Thou dost bring forth seed, which he 
again scattereth upon earth, and in thy perfected fruit doth 
he reap his own pure happiness. 

83. Think not that the earth around thy roots is valued 
by Him save as it doth nourish thee. Life doth not value 
death. 

84. Thou art likened unto the vine ; but if the vine re- 
fuse to ascend, and clings to the surrounding weeds of 
earth, the glorious height will not be attained. 

85. The seed will bring forth fruit in affinity with the 
weeds unto which it clings, and the blossoms will have 
their sweetness destroyed by the rank-smelling things 
around them. 

86. Such have by their affinity for earth debarred them- 
selves from entering Heaven. Men may relish their fruit, 
but God can never enjoy such vines. 

ST. If thy mind cling fast unto the passions and frailties 
of the flesh, instead of striving constantly for that which 
is above and beyond — even the eternal Throne of God — 
the seed is indeed perverted. That which should have 
brought forth high and holy aspirations, bringeth forth 
nothing but desires that in their fruits bring death. 

88. Thou art here to-day ; to-morrow is beyond thy com- 
prehension. Yesterday, yes, the second just left behind, 
is in eternity \ Thou art walking on earth one step be- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 181 

tween two eternities — the present dropping sand. From 
eternity thou contest, and to eternity thou art going ! 

89. Thou canst not stop ! Thou canst not stay for an in- 
stant the machinery of creation ! Thou art in harmony 
with the controlling powers, and must move on, on, for 
ever onward ; yes, and upward, until eternity grows old 
and God decays ! 

90. Canst thou imagine the annihilation of God ? Nay, 
verily. Thus, then, thou art limited, and should in hu- 
mility bow before the unlimited Creator. 

91. Dropped from the hand of God from the pure and 
holy seed within his own spirit formed, thou must bring 
back in the returning floods of Light and Love thy pure 
fruits as the recompense unto his spirit for the seed which 
produced thee. 

92. Without Him thou hadst not been. Being, thou 
must glorify His holy gift in action. And what is action 
for man ? Canst thou alter or remove one of God's laws ? 
Canst thou stop upon thy road ? Is not even time beyond 
thy control ? Then did God design thee to act in that over 
which there is no possibility of thy spirit on earth obtain- 
ing sway ? Did he place thee on earth to grasp in imper- 
fection what alone perfection produced and doth perfectly 
govern ? 

93. Did He create of dust for thee to smother thy spirit 
therein ? 

94. Action for man is perfected in obtaining pure and 
perfect knowledge. Knowledge giveth happiness. 

95. That which is beyond thy comprehension can not 
give thee lasting happiness. 

96. Did not God comprehend his creation, there could 
be no happiness derived from it. 

97. If thou dost not know, how canst thou enjoy? 

98. Within thy spirit is the happiness of pure knowledge 
manifested. It is demonstrated to thy outer vision by the 
countless formations of Nature, but within thy spirit alone 
is the comprehension of their cause. 



182 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

99. Thy action is the result of Will, or of thy concen- 
trated thought. And to seek for knowledge in the right 
direction, would be to turn within thyself to the thought 
which causeth thy action. 

100. Thy outward action is, as God to his created effects, 
the result of opposites. Thy spirit thinks or attracts 
thoughts, condenses them into will, puts forth the will, 
and the resultant outer action is produced. 

101. Thus spirit, through flesh, becomes manifest. 

102. God first thought. Man first thinks, ere he attempts 
to act in the body ; yet even thought is secondary unto the 
spirit, for being the child of Perfection, when perfected, 
every action must be perfect, even though prompted by no 
previous thought. 

103. Every man hath at times acted even in body when 
thought seemed entirely absent. Such actions are pro- 
duced by a gigantic effort of spirit when all the animal 
powers of the mind are rendered useless by excessive dan- 
ger, grief, love, or some other accidental and unforeseen 
cause. 

101. This is the place where spirit assumes sway, even 
in the greatest developed animal organization. 

105. The earthly powers are checked — the brain stands 
still — thought can not enter ; there is no will formed for 
the emergency, and without the spirit-action at this point 
all would be o'er. 

106. Upon the verge — upon the very edge of the preci- 
pice a man is standing, viewing the foaming watdtfs be- 
neath. 

107. His thoughts are seeking his far-off home; he 
wishes all the fondly-loved ones could stand as he, and view 
revealed the mighty power of his God. Absorbed in 
thought, he turns away. At his feet a widening seam ap- 
pears in the rock which hath stood the shock of ages ! He 
bounds from the spot to fall upon the bank a saved man, 
while the broken mass crashes down into the gulf be- 
neath! 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 183 

108. Thought returns ; it seems an age since it left his 
brain ! He rises, and with tottering steps leaves the place 
where one thoughtless bound had barely saved him from a 
fearful death. 

109. The spirit hath a perception above all save God, 
who is the perfect whole whence it came. 

110. Thought is slow in action or in producing action by 
the side of the untrammeled spirit of man. 

111. Thought surrounding man, and through his will 
producing outward action, must take some of his earth 
in acting, and, having a heavier load than the spirit, can 
not act so quickly. 

112. If placed in great danger, thou dost act, and then 
think about thy action afterward. Where such action is 
not required, the will is sufficient. 

113. Thy will is secondary unto thee, being a result of 
thy own producing. 

114. Thy spirit is connected with thy body by innume- 
rable ties ; thy will, the result of this connection, can not 
sway the body or spirit, as the spirit can the body or will, 
at pleasure. 

115. The will is a result of thy brain's action, thy spirit 
the controlling power, not only of that brain, but also is 
diffused to a certain extent throughout thy entire animal 
organization. Thy Being is spiritual. All that confines 
thee to earth, even while in the body, is the body itself. 

116. Thy inclination is constantly to ascend to the Source 
whence thou came, and therein reap enlarged enjoyment 
from an enlarged comprehension. 

117. Surely the proper region of thy action can not be 
the knowledge of that which keeps thee back from that 
which thy spirit is constantly seeking. 

118. Thou hast seen that all connected with thee is be- 
low the power and purity of thy spirit. Even the swift 
thought and strong will are second unto thy spirit in speed 
and power in action. Then thou shouldst study the mo- 
tives, powers, and comprehension of which thy spirit is ca- 



184 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

pable, thus beginning at the cause in which thou dost 
center and which thou art. 

119. Thy actions are but the outer creation of thy spirit. 
As the mountains, rivers,, oceans, and earth itself, with all 
the vast array of the bright witnesses in the heavens, are 
fruits of God's creative power, so are thy actions in the 
body, and with the body the creation of thy spirit within. 

120. If thou dost build with matter, thou dost first con- 
struct within thy brain that which is builded. 

121. If thou dost speak from thinking, thought was at 
work ere the material word was produced, and spirit open- 
ed the door for thought to enter. 






CHAPTEE X. 

1. Wouldst thou know what thy Spirit is ? Ask thyself, 
thy Father in Heaven. Thou must get above it in order 
to fully comprehend it. 

2. It is that within thee which knows more than words 
can embody, gives more peace than thought can reveal, 
and joins thee to thy unknown Source with ties of strongest 
affinity. 

3. It warns thee in danger, strengthens thee in trial, and 
in thy joy gives thee foretaste of its eternal home ; 

4. Prompts in virtue, stays in love, and unto thy as- 
pirings giveth godliness. 

5. It is God within thee manifested — child in the image 
of its Father. High, holy, and pure, offspring of Jehovah 
— created of God's own purity, entombed in earth to bloom 
in Heaven throughout an endless eternity. 

6. Great Father, thou alone canst see what thy child can 
never know. Thou alone art above and beyond the all of 
his perfection. Thou alone art his Father, and he alone is 
thy child. 

7. Oh, Man ! what thou art is above and beyond thy 
conception — that which God alone knoweth ! 

8. ]STo man can know another ; and if through the kind- 
ness of an all-wise Parent he knoweth himself, his knowl- 
edge is indeed great, and beyond the highest attainment of 
earth. 

9. Oh, do not despair ! Thou mayest be scoffed at and 
abused, condemned and persecuted of men, because thou 
art true unto God ; but thy spirit tells He is found of thee, 
and all is well. 



186 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

10. Art tliou poor? Art thou in rags, soiled, tired, and 
fainting by the roadside, and none minister unto thy 
wants ? 

11. Turn thou upward. Rags do not defile thee, weak- 
ness is no censure in the loving eye of thy Father. He 
seeth thy spirit, and if from it cometh the unselfish prayer, 
though thou may know it not, that prayer is heard above 
the ocean's roar, the city's tumult, or the howling rage of 
the hurricane. 

12. Yes, thou hast that within thee which, though un- 
heard of outer ears, is far stronger-voiced than the whirl- 
wind, softer than the murmuring rill, and more sweet than 
the warblings of the bird. 

13. The voice unto which the harp-strings of Heaven 
vibrate in unison — a voice unto which thy Creator loveth 
to listen, as thou dost unto thy own lisping child. 

14:. The sweetest voice and tone God e'er created — his 
own trusting child communing with him, when all the 
earth condemns. Oh, such condemnation is nothing unto 
those who have in spirit communed with the high and holy 
One, above and beyond all — perfect. 

15. Thou canst not reach God's ear by heartless words 
nor outside works. Effects to him are dead. Thou art 
alive, a living spirit ; thou dost not die, and of thee this 
voice is expected. 

16. All the creation blends in their every voice the full- 
some happiness they feel. The tinkling water, the falling- 
dew, the sweet rose swaying to and fro, the wind's wild 
scream, the thunder's roll, and the forest's stately moan — 
all blend, and upward wind their way. 

17. They soften in blending as they leave the earth, and, 
far short of God's throne, would be lost, were not all con- 
centrated and sweetened in the voice of thee his own loved 
child. 

18. Of purest strings thy harp was strung. God gave 
thee powers free for their control, and his own breath 
uttered first the note thou shouldst ever repeat. Love 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 187 

sounded from Jehovah's lips, and unto it thy strings vi- 
brated in unison, producing the first, highest, and purest 
tone e'er heard in Heaven ! 

19. Thou wert the last. All was combined in thee. 
The stars had sung together, and enchanted space had lis- 
tened unto their deep, rolling swell. Earth had sent up her 
combined choral song of praise. Deity listened, but the 
tender est tone of his spirit was still — nothing created reached 
its purity. 

20. Hark! The child hath tuned his harp, and as his 
tender voice mingles with the rising song, that high and 
holy tone vibrates to the sound of congenial Love ! 

21. Hast thou ne'er heard this tone ? 

22. Upon yonder bed the fondly loved daughter, the 
sweet sister lieth. Pain hath racked her mortal frame until 
the pure spirit is about leaving behind that in which it was 
too pure to longer dwell. 

23. The Love-light of Heaven is in her eye. She hath 
heard this tone vibrating in answer to her prayer. 

24. Listen to her now, as, with words and voice that 
would grace an angel's lips, she sendeth up her trusting 
petition to the kind Father for the guidance and protection 
of thee, her dearly loved and loving brother. 

25. And as within thee thou dost feel the holy calm of 
heavenly happiness welling up, and as thy spirit joins with 
hers, thou dost feel 'tis well for her to depart whilst within 
her Father's spirit she is joining in holy communion. 
"Within thee that tone hath sounded, and it can never cease 
vibrating. 

26. Thou may est be thrown into the hottest of life's bit- 
ter strife, and mayest have to grapple with deadly passions 
fiercely ; but, as thou dost pause upon the last brink from 
which hope seems leaving to return no more forever, within 
thy spirit soundeth the long-smothered tone, and a sister's 
dying prayer bursts upon thy ear — thou art calmed, oil 
is poured upon the turbulent waters, and thou art saved ! 

27. Such is the Spirit's Voice ; and if thou hast ne'er 



188 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

heard it, there is that in store for thee which only the freed 
spirit can give. 

28. Heard and felt, 'tis never forgotten. No music can 
equal its richness, no poesy express its sweetness ; for it is 
pure, unsullied love, flowing through its highest and holi- 
est channel. 

29. It vibrates through space, and where'er is God's 
loved child there is perfected harmony. 

30. Matter, however refined, can not be tuned in unison 
to this voice of God. Only the spirit, free from earth, or 
by denser things untrammeled, can listen to its enchanting 
strain. 

31. In denser music it becomes proven. The voice of 
man, the string's vibratory sound, are but denser proofs of 
its existence. 

32. As thou dost listen to the thrilling tones of the In- 
spired Musician, thou dost need no science to enable thee 
to fully comprehend its harmony. 

33. Within thee thy spirit sings, and its every tone is 
rich with melody. Thou dost feel that Heaven hath been 
near, and that its pure rays have fallen upon thy pathway. 

34. Listen to Science from which spirit hath fled. Upon 
thy susceptible spirit nothing is felt save an uneasy con- 
sciousness of the waste of talents designed for great and 
good productions. 

35. Thou leavest to return no more, hungry, seeking and 
not finding, wondering why thou wert not pleased with 
that which evidently was so well performed. 

36. The very air will not vibrate so well to tones in 
which pure and undefiled Love is not. Tones love hath 
created become sweeter from utterance. The air is an 
outer demonstration of God's love, and through its purity 
the loving tone flieth free, clear, and strong, and harmony 
is produced. Whereas Science is a result of outward con- 
nections, and can only catch the outer denser substances 
of the things in passing, and as a consequence is less im- 
bued with life and strength and power. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 189 

37. Affinity is as fixed in music or harmony as in aught 
else of denser nature. 

38. If thou dost love, love vibrates to thy voice ; and 
though no response be heard by thee, still it must widen 
and widen as the circles of water, until it is mingled with 
the surrounding sea of Love. 

39. Thy loving voice will curb the bitterest passion, for 
beneath its raging fury vibrates the spirit-tone which thy 
voice hath touched. 

40. If thou dost hate, hating passions vibrate as thou 
dost sho'ck the air with thy uncongenial voice. Assume 
Love's gentle tone, and thou wilt, by the air carrying thy 
twisted voice, be branded as a hypocrite before the listen- 
ing spirit. 

41. Thou mayest flatter thyself thou art expert in hy- 
pocrisy, but thou canst not deceive thyself, nor the ele- 
ments in which thou dost exist. 

42. If a. tone escape thee, it vibrates until it mingles 
with the ever rising hymn of creation. 

43. If thou dost sing an elevated strain of Love, in 
which thy spirit leads, then indeed thy voice ascends high 
into the arched heavens, and is known unto all therein as 
the sweetest tone from earth. 

44. If by low and groveling passions thy voice be 
swayed, matter may vibrate through force of thy superior 
power, but never can the tone ascend above the limits unto 
which dust is confined. 

45. All things are fruits of a great and loving spirit, and 
unto loving notes are tuned; partaking of the nature of 
the source whence they came, combined by love into per- 
fect harmony. 

46. All have different notes, yet God formed, tuned, and 
knoweth every one. The flowing brook blends its sweet 
notes with the waving bush on its bank ; the ocean's and 
the thunder's roll soften and mingle with the wind's load 
of sweeter, richer melody, and all blend in one. 

47. Upon the water's peaceful bosom soundeth the lov- 



190 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

ing strain — all Nature blending in perfect Love. Man, 
enchanted, listens, and from his inmost depths the spirit- 
tone is heard strong, pure, and clear ; it rises to the highest 
point attained, and, mingling with its Creator's voice, 
leaveth far behind the earth in the search after its causing 
essence. 

48. Within thy spirit, oh, Holy One, was Love born. It 
sang to thee, and thou didst listen. Unto thy child the 
tone was taught, and in return gave thee purest joy. 

49. Love, thou art God's loved. "Where'er thou art, his 
great spirit lingereth near to listen to thy strain. 

50. The mother singing to her babe, the strong man's 
sigh, the lover's tale, the sweet reply, all convey unto thy 
ear, oh, God, their rich load of trusting Love. 

51. And pleasure Thou must receive which mortals can 
never comprehend. 

52. What matter whence it cometh ? If thy poor spirit, 
oh, Man, feel almost too low to live, if thou art in the 
deepest, darkest dungeon man can build, if passions bind 
thee fast, God loveth thee ; and if from thy spirit riseth 
the holy incense of aspiring love, Hope will ne'er forsake 
thee. 

53. Sing thy spirit's song, and a loving ear is listening 
which naught can influence against His own holy attribute 
thou art using. 

54. Thou canst not whisper, nay, thou canst not feel 
within thy spirit this tender seeking after thy Father's aid, 
without all being known unto him. 

55. Does this seem strange to thee? Remember there is 
not an essence or a resulting principle in all the universe 
that hath not its creating and controlling seed in God's 
light and his love, and this seed is again under the direct 
control of his own holy hand. 

56. Thou hast seen how thy voice is heard, though all 
seems to conspire to drown its tone. Oh, believe that God 
is indeed good, and created not only for his own pleasure, 
but diffused that pleasure throughout his creation. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 191 

57. Listen not to conceited, selfish man, when he would 
show thee his God, especially if he exult in having such 
and such an one ; know that within thyself thou must 
listen, or never hear His own pure tones. 

58. Men who have heard the voice of God are meek and 
lowly. No assumption escapes them ; they are afraid of 
discordant notes, lest the sweet tone unto which they love 
to listen should be rendered inaudible by the jarring tones 
without. 

59. If thou hast been in the presence of thy Heavenly 
Father, all things assume a holier and purer aspect. Thy 
eyes have been purified by seeing purity, and oh, within 
thee is that sweet, celestial joy, which only God's com- 
munion can bestow upon thee. 

60. Thy Father is in spirit visible unto spirit. Thou 
mayest have been taught, and mayest have believed, that 
thy Father was walled up in a city of Gold, so far from 
thee that approach required an eternity to accomplish ! 
Such doctrines are necessary unto those who are ambitious 
to help their brethren along a road they have never them- 
selves traveled, and know nothing concerning ! 

61. If thou art impure and unholy, God is as far from 
thee as is purity and holiness. The distance between thy 
imperfection and his perfection separates you. This does 
not take away God's power of approaching thee, nor of thy 
approaching him. 

62. Howsoever impure thou art, or imperfect, thou canst 
aspire after the unknown purity and perfection which dwell 
in His holy presence, and thy ignorance doth not limit 
God's knowledge. He can see the extent of thy measure, 
and fill it with ever-growing seeds of purity. 

63. Thou canst feel the breath of God sweeping thy 
earthly harpstrings, and listen enchanted to the strain. 



CHAPTER XL 

1. There are moments when every spirit that hath 
"breathed eternal life, feels in the presence of some great 
and unknown power. In the cool evening, the shady noon, 
or the dewy morning, all and every one have felt that some 
power above the earth was near. A silent spell sheds o'er 
the spirit a foretaste of Heaven's joy. Thoughts come as 
rays of light illumining the cell within, and, peering out 
over the lovely landscape, reveal beauties that were never 
seen before. 

2. Such moments stir the Poet's soul. They light with- 
in his spirit the fiery Inspiration, and from his lips drops 
music, the vibratory soundings of the holy tone within. 
All men have felt it. God hath revealed himself unto thee 
in thy own spirit's light. Thou hast felt that all without 
was dead, until quickened by his own holy light, it grew 
in loveliness. Heaven descended upon the dry and dusty 
earth, and all things bloomed in perfect beauty. 

3. Think not that God hath ne'er approached thee. Thou 
art one of his children, and unto his great spirit art thou 
near and dear. 

4. Thou mayest not have stirred the spirits of the multi- 
tude with thy inspired logic — the music of thy tones. Thou 
mayest not have penned thy poetical spirit in lines of liv- 
ing poetry, or called up from God's pure fountain the deep, 
strong words of inspired truth. Still within thy spirit hath 
God been felt. 

5. Spirit attracteth spirit, as matter doth matter. Then 
can not thou attract God, and he draw thee heavenward ? 

6. Oh, guard thy privileges ! God gave thee existence. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 193 

Oh ! fill full thy powers. Grasp from Heaven's high altar 
the holy torch, and o'er thy head its lovely beams shall 
shed Divinity. 

7. Drop thy earthy load ! Plume thy spirit- wings for 
regions of Eternal day, and in the light of God's own love 
will purity bless thee. Thou art a Man. The child of 
God should in the Heavens dwell. What if on earth thy 
feet are walking, is not thy head above them ? And do 
they limit the vision of thine eye ? 

8. Thy hand should draw down Heaven's fruits and give 
them unto man. Wouldst thou give a brother — an hun- 
gering brother, a stone ? 

9. Oh, Poet, within thy spirit God hath looked, and 
great is thy responsibility ! 

10. Thou canst not escape. Within thee hath the watch- 
fire been lighted by God's own hand, and he alone can 
quench it. 

11. Thou must stir and feed the flame, and as it sparkles 
catch them on thy pen, and with mighty power wield the 
greatest weapon on Earth. 

12. Wait not for form. The wild Bird's scream is living 
music which can not be imitated. The Dove's soft cooing 
can ne'er be worded. Nature speaks, and nature vibrates 
to the sound. 

13. Through thy spirit must pour the holy stream of In- 
spiration free and strong. If thou dost wait for form of 
words or length of verse, the water stagnates, and upon its 
sweet, pure surface appears the dark-green selfishness. 

14. When God would speak through thee, presume not 
his voice to guide. Be thou a passive instrument in his 
divine hand, and from thy pen shall flow streams of living 
Light whose banks are blooming ever. 

15. Angels will listen unto thy strain. Through the vast 
vault of Heaven will their voices sound its praise. 

16. Through thee God hath spoken, and unto the voice 
the universe vibrates in unison. 

17. The tones are grand, the words are simple, the mean- 



194 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



ing plain, yet God's own Love in purity mingles with thy 
eternal strain. 

18. They speak, they live, the living voice can not die. 
Forever and forever liveth, and unto thee the penner giv- 
eth happiness on high. 

19. Let forth thy words, pen thy feelings. Fear not the 
rules of man. Remember God is with thee dealing. Thou 
may est mar a purer, holier plan than man hath e'er dis- 
covered. 

20. Free from earthly trammels must thou be ere God's 
voice can thy spirit quicken. He comes not, as thou or 
rules would dictate, but with the freedom of the pure, clear 
air, and the sweetness of the bird's pure notes, he cometh. 

21. Thou dost feel too full for utterance. The spirit can 
not be controlled, and from thee bursts Light and Love, 
couched in tones of highest and holiest melody. 

22. Should these be trimmed and stinted to suit the 
fleshy ears of animal critics ? Should God stoop to dis- 
pute with man about a word, its length, breadth, or depth ? 

23. Are words Poetry ? Poetry ! thou art the embodi- 
ment of God's voice, as upon his child he calls, " I love 
thee, I love thee." Thou art Nature's hymn, the mother's 
note, and maiden's sigh. Thou art that which whispers, 
"Man can never die." 

24. Thou wert born when God first spake, and thou wilt 
cease when his great spirit is buried beneath the folds of 
chaos ! when eternity hath ceased, and Heaven's lights 
gone out forever ! Thou came from God, and unto God 
wilt thou return. 

25. Oh, Poet ! thy Gift is not of Man. Sing thy strain 
to Heaven. Let that which from thee flows be pure. God 
hath appointed, and doth reward thee. 

26. If man can not comprehend thee — if thou art not un- 
derstood, and by ignorance misrepresented, must thou for- 
sake thy Father's throne and worship those below thee? 
Be true to thy trust. God is near thee, and though man 
may belie thee, he will ever hear thy voice. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 195 

27. Thy spirit will seek its Father, and from his voice 
will take the note from which to tune the Harp. Angels 
surround thee, and from their tones thou wilt gather 
strengthening sympathy. Upon thee will fall Heaven's 
high favor, and, though erring man scoff and mock, within 
the presence of its holy host wilt thou reap harvests of 
purest joy. 

28. Man's degradation should not tie thy wings. Thou 
art God's poetic voice, and upon thy kind should call, 
" God is good." Show that he loveth them. Teach them 
with musical voice that thou art true unto him, and their 
unbelief will never stand between thy spirit and his. 

29. All the voices God hath tuned conspire to help thee 
in thy song. They hover near thee, all saying, " I am 
true, I am true." They lend their sweetness, show their 
greatness, or their harmonious blending prove. They give 
thy themes new charms by their ever- varied beauty, and 
through thee would explain their plain and simple truths. 

30. Thy eye beholds the light, and through its refining 
and purifying influence all things God's hand hath made 
assume newer and lovelier shades. Blending with the 
darkened face of Chaos, thou dost see thy Father's rays, 
and dost pen with clear distinctness the mighty truths 
revealed. 

31. Love enters thy spirit, and over thy talents sheds 
her soft and genial glow. Escaping through thy pen with 
noiseless feet, she carries her holy balm unto -the bursting 
heart. 

32. It is worthy an Angel's hand to sit and from high 
Heaven draw Love's pure beams, and shed them free o'er 
man. 

33. Upon his dark and hopeless path God's own light 
to reflect, raising and sustaining him by gentle, easy steps. 

34. Angels' converse, God's communion, Harmony spo- 
ken low — in words of sweetest union Heaven's poetry doth 
flow. 

35. Dost thou think, oh, Poet, that thy Heavenly Father 



196 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



measures his words when he speaks? Does it not seem 
most likely that the speaking giveth ever-varied rules unto 
all that is spoken ? And if through thee that voice would 
manifest itself, speak ! and let men change their Eules to 
suit thy words. 

36. If they wage a war against thy voice, remember 
thou hast a higher duty than to quarrel with thy brother. 

37. Time will rub out rules. Eternity can not efface 
truth, or truthful expression. Thou write for eternity ; one 
good and truthful Idea will last longer than all the wordy 
verse the outside poet can write. 

38. Poetic Rules and Divisions are always secondary 
unto the spirit of the poetry. They are but that by which it 
is or should be measured ; and if it do not fit the measure, 
should it therefore be exterminated? Surely dead rules are 
never preferable unto living truth. 

39. A slave to rules can never speak for God. His voice 
is free, freely given, and must be freely expressed, else 
not at all. 

40. If thou hast Talents, yet use them to tickle the pas- 
sions of man, thy reward will be to see thy verses buried 
ere thou thyself art consigned to dust. 

41. If man were continually stationary, then, perhaps, 
thou might die ere thy works for him compiled ; but 
ever onward and upward is his course. That which pleased 
him yesterday is stale to-day, and will be forgotten to- 
morrow. 

42. Do not write to be forgotten. Let truth be in thy 
every word, and upon the eternal rock wilt thou see an 
everlasting monument erected in honor of thee, Truth's 
Poetic Teacher. 

43. Why live to waste that which God designed for use? 
And worse than waste is it to teach falsely, because thou 
mayest chance to think truth would not be comprehended. 

44. It were far more glorious to not move at all than to 
enter the field in open warfare upon God's own truth. And 
if within thyself thou dost smother that which would do a 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 197 

brother good, therein art thou warring with thy Father's 
will. 

45. Take up the cross of self-denial on earth, and in 
Heaven will the crown be worn. Yes, and from thy ex- 
alted height wilt thou peer clown and see thy hungry 
brethren partaking of the celestial food thou didst leave on 
earth. 

46. Thou wilt see that fame doth follow thee. If he 
walk with thee in life, he will be also with thee in death, 
and by thy side be buried. 

47. But if thou dost strive for an exalted, eternal fame, 
know that in the glory of the present thou canst have no 
share. 

48. Truth being the embodiment of God's great attri- 
butes — Light and Love — is eternal. 

49. As thou dost make it manifest in its own beautiful 
simplicity, so in the same proportion art thou eternally 
glorified. 

50. Thou canst not create^ but with the light of Divine 
Inspiration thou canst ever discover new truths unto man, 
and with a loving strain impart eternal knowledge. 

51. Simplicity is the Poet's greatest weapon. 

52. Tell thy tale with as few words as possible. Have 
every line big with meaning. One line of truth will live 
longer than if the line be spread over the pages of the 
largest book. Condense thy style until the words fit the 
substance as the bark doth the tree, and every one ; who 
looks will see precisely that which thou dost wish seen. 

53. Whereas, if words form a rhyme, and this take all 
thy time, thou wilt find that thou dost end thy verse, with 
that which is as bad or worse, than if thou hadst ne'er 
begun. 

54. Always endeavor to embody great truths in great 
simplicity, thus : 

55. All Mankind are but Brothers ; 
Then "Do thou unto others 
As they should do to thee." 



198 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

Let " Love ye one another" 
Bind thee unto thy brother. 
For thus bound thou art free. 

56. And it were well to never forget that where truth is 
not, there is no employment for the pen of the true Poet. 

57. True Inspiration can not be enlarged upon nor 
diminished without great danger of injury. 

58. It is the voice Of God. The same tones that pro- 
duced all things from nothing. Within thy hollow spirit 
can this tone create that which unto man is as acceptable 
as the dew-drops to the withering rose. 

59. The creation and its voice must be harmonious. 

60. As within thee the voice is heard, so must it be 
penned, else art thou not true unto God ; and the very air 
thou dost breathe, the light in which thy words are read, 
will brand thee as a betrayer of God's confidence. 

61. The Lily is beautiful, yet if thou strive to paint it, 
the sweetness is corroded, and it withers in thy hands. 

62. If thou dost stop the mountain-stream, and within 
thy own sluggish drain confine it, the nourishment con- 
tained within it dies, and upon its surface there appears to 
others' eyes the fruits of thy own perversion. 

63. If man see thee thus easily, how must thou stand 
viewed by the one who designed thee as His mouthpiece ? 

64. When God speaks, every word is perfect. If man 
do not understand, what then ? He will when up the as- 
cent he hath progressed sufficiently. 

65. As well might the Eiver complain of the mountain- 
springs from which its strength arises, as for man, with his 
own conceited rules, to strive to measure the free and strong 
voice of his God. 

66. Within every man the Spirit is first and greatest. 
It may be stinted by low passions through its connections 
with the flesh, but the voice of its Father will ever find a 
string vibrating within its cell, however deep and dark. 

67. And should this cause of thy Rules be by the lower 
nature tied ? Spirit, thought, will, action, resultant rules 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. % 199 

produce. And should the pure spring be blamed if in its 
passage through the lower channels it becomes mixed with 
their sediment ? 

68. Should their dirt be carried up the mountain, and 
be made to defile the waters of purity ? 

69. Purity needs no rules. They must check its flow. 
In flowing, it giveth all that rule should measure. 

TO. The voices of all Nature are free. Why not, oh, 
man, lay down rules for the regulation of the wind's strong 
whistle or the bird's sweet carol % 

71. Chain fast the wind, and make it sway to suit thy 
thinking ; whistle or moan, or at thy will, with thy chain, 
commence clinking. 

72. Cage thy bird, and its soft, sweet note is Jeft in the 
wood behind thy rules produce — 'twill be of no use, and 
thou wilt find that through its throat God's voice speaketh 
free. 

73. Make the Eose be sweet by Eule ! Teach the strong 
tree how to grow ! Prove thyself the only fool on the Earth 
below. 

74. Art thou, man, the only one God hath left free to 
govern thyself, and wilt thou make thyself in all things the 
slave of thy own governing ? 

75. Must spirit be bound by flesh ? Must God's voice in 
thee be still, whilst in every tree and bush birds sing as 
they will ? 

76. From thy throat must come Inspiration, pure and 
strong, else forever be thou dumb, and in God's sight do 
no wrong. 

77. Poetry is worded harmony. It is boundless and free 
as God's own words. It is as lovely as his own love, and 
the expression of his own purity. 

78. It is always God's instrument, and never the tool of 
man — can not be perverted. Though man may think he 
hath turned it aside from holiness and trailed it to his own 
arbor, still he will find that at the turning-point Inspiration 
stopped. 



200 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

79. It is God's help-meet — a root whose branches bear 
fruit in Heaven sweet, and unto man most rare. 

80. It springeth up within the spirit of man — blooms and 
bears. He partaketh of its fruit, and ever-varied happi- 
ness fills him with continual joy. 

81. Inspiration is a glorious gift. Oh, how little is it 
known ! Man is the only one upon whom it is bestowed. 
Nature sings her hymn unto God, but Inspiration mingles 
the voice of man with the ever-living tones of his Father. 

82. God's voice comprehended by his child alone, pure 
tones never ended circling round his throne. 

83. The holy One speaketh, and on the listening ear falls 
Heaven's highest tone ; the child on earth it greeteth, "Thou 
art not alone." 

84. Oh, listen unto that voice ! and let thy talents be as 
they will, glorious light will result from them. 

85. God sheds o'er thee his Love, and in it thou dost 
act. All things conspire to aid thee, and all thou dost ac- 
complish, be it ever so trifling, must redound unto the 
glory of thy inspiring Father. 

86. It is the soul of music, the life of Poetry, and the 
highest, holiest food for spirit. 

87. Hast thou no talents ? Art thou ignorant, un- 
learned of man ? Canst thou not understand as man teach- 
eth ? Turn to a better master. God fills thy measure full 
within thyself. There is some point in which thou must 
excel, if unto God and thyself thou art just. 

88. Ask not man for knowledge. He can not teach thee 
that which he can not know — that unto which thou art best 
adapted. 

89. Thou art one of thyself, and on the earth there is no 
other one like unto thee, and so long as the world exists 
there can never be ; and if unto thyself thou art true, even 
in the eyes of men thou wilt seem exalted. 

90. One man is true, and as a consequence, he excels. 
Thousands fail in striving to imitate him ; that is, in striv- 
ing to imitate that which lie hath accomplished, instead of 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 201 

properly imitating his truthful reliance upon God and his 
own powers. 

91. There is no man truly great who is not perfectly true 
unto himself. 

92. True men lead all rules. The true Poet leaves be- 
hind all old, worn-out measures, and soars free and far 
above all that rule hath ever measured. 

93. Imitators rule out his style, and then with their 
distorted machinery strive to approach his inspired pro- 
ductions. Alas ! the very machine is their greatest obsta- 
cle to overcome ! 

94. A great thought approaches ; into the machine 'tis 
thrown and turned and twisted, until, when it comes out, 
there is nothing of the original shape left ; yet this thing 
is gilded and thrown out into the vast sea of words as 
Poetry ! 

95. Machinery is never master of Inspiration. 

96. The true Musician breaks forth ever and anon in 
strains of richest melody. Inspiration cometh pure. The 
startled helpers drop their machines in utter amazement. 
Having never before heard music, it vibrates strangely on 
their practical ear. 

97. As the strain becomes familiar, a machine is builded 
to suit all of it they can comprehend, and they attempt to 
pass this thing as the inspired strain ! 

98. The most ignorant man God ever created would in- 
stantly see the vast difference between them. 

99. Inspiration speaks for itself, and unto its voice all 
that God hath created vibrates in harmony. 

100. The Poet catches hold of man's spirit, not with 
words, but with the deep, pure truths of God's own home. 
The truths vibrate in the Musician's voice, or along his 
harp-strings, and the enchanted spirit listens itself away 
into the pure home whence the loving Sisters come. 



CHAPTER XII. 

1. There is one coming of lovely form. His face seems 
fresh from Heaven. His bright eye glistens. Upon his 
brow is stamped beneath the flowing curls the deep lines 
of majestic beauty. 

2. The sweet sisters greet him with lovely smiles, and, as 
he approacheth, the eldest from her Garden brings lovely 
flowers ; and as she sings, the younger joins her holy strain, 
" Brother, thou art come again." 

3. "Glad are we thou hast come smiling from the inner 
home ; for as we sing, thou canst draw colors from above, 
and upon the human sight, in God's own glorious light, 
condense, explain, and beauty prove existing in our Father's 
love." 

4. And as they sing, the Pencil used condenses all their 
song, and upon the Canvas brings, in colors pure and 
strong, Love condensed by Light revealed. 

5. The happy Trio wander through beauteous groves, 
amid the shady wood. Purity, holiness, and love, essences 
of all things good ; by their true hands displayed in loveli- 
est tones and colors their Father ever made. 

6. The tinkling brook is waded, the mossy bank they 
tread ; the deep and mighty river, mountains overhead — 
all mingle in their strain, and in shades of beauty plain are 
laid in lasting colors. 

7. Flowers waving in the sun ; the moon's soft beams ; 
the dark cloud's frown — all blend as along the stream of 
life they run. 

8. The bird is warbling free, the sisters sing his song, 
but, "Brother, what aileth thee? Come, brother, come 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 208 

along." The Pencil dropped. The Painter's hand was 
still ; he could not catch the magic song flowing from its 
little bill. 

9. They enter an earthly home, and before his hand they 
bring happiness, joy, mirth, sorrow, despair; and show 
the sting of hatred's venomous tongue. True unto life 
they are drawn ; the Lovers speak — sound seems moving 
on their lips. 

10. The mother's bitter tears, the father's dark despair, 
in truthful' lines are painted ; in purity untainted love 
breathes in the air, removing all their fears. 

11. The Brother sits, and as they sing, his pencil flits, 
and from the spring of light the shades of night doth bring, 
and, mingling, show their beauty. 

12. Whilst the sisters pen and sing melodies pure and 
high, the brother's pencil forms their expression in colors 
from light produced, and, viewed in the light God's kind- 
ness shed o'er earth, his work seemeth all alive. 

13. Inspiration guides the Pencil, and beneath his hand 
the holy voice of God is fixed in stern reality. He feeds 
God's children with food congenial. Every line he draw- 
eth seems fresh from Heaven. 

14. Amid his shady groves Angels seem to whisper ; and 
as the gazer looketh on, a dreamy consciousness of a high 
and holy presence stealeth over him, and his spirit seems 
wrapt with the loving arms of an all-wise and loving 
Parent. 

15. Inspiration condensed on canvas ! The outside evi- 
dence of God's power through man manifested. God's cre- 
ation imitated through his trusting child. 

16. It requires no words, no tones to explain. There 
before the gazer stands revealed in beauty all that the in- 
spired hand can paint. 

17. Is it a joyous scene? thou canst not help mingling 
thy smile with the painted joy. Is it mirth ? from thee 
escapes the unnoticed laugh — the best compliment that 
picture could receive. 



204 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS 



18. Pass to this scene. The laugh dies upon thy lip 
and the tear gathers in thine eye, as before thee thou dost 
see a poor mother seeking bread for her starving child. 
Thou dost mark her agonizing expression, and the pale, 
calm, quiet little one calls up within thee a thousand recol- 
lections of thy own happy childhood. Thy hand seeks the 
well-filled purse, and from thy pocket 'tis well-nigh drawn, 
as thought returns, and before thee thou dost see — a Pic- 
ture ! From his studio the Painter marked thy emotion 
and thy action, and unto God his thanks are ascending that 
he hath with his brush touched the tender chords of the 
human Heart. 

19. Turn this corner. Ha! why didst thou start? and 
why did fear paralyze thy features? From the rugged 
rock the Lord of the Forest hath sprung ; mid air he 
hangs, yet seemeth ever descending upon the helpless one 
below, his mane afloat, his bright eye glaring, and from 
his mouth and throat thou dost seem to hear that which 
maketh the forest tremble and all flesh quake with fear. 

20. And now as thou dost reach thy hand the tempting 
fruit to grasp, behold amid their richness coiled the unno- 
ticed asp ! Starting back, alas ! thou dost think from that 
cooling spring thou wilt surely drink, but again doomed to 
disappointment ; for, ere thou canst gain its edge thou dost 
see upon the ledge of rock the dark coils of the guarding 
snake ! 

21. Here is the Sunset scene. The mellow light seems 
blending the bright day-beams with those of coming night. 
The lazy cow-boy and lazier cattle, the oxen yoked — 
does the wagon rattle? It almost does, for in truthful 
colors it is so plainly painted. The Farmer leaning on the 
fence, the old dog by his side — friends are they in every 
sense, and ofttimes sorely tried. Over all the softened light 
sends a peaceful glow, and thou dost feel that coming night 
will remove from thy sight ere long this peaceful scene. 

22. Again within thy spirit is the tender chord touched, 
as thou dost behold the happy family gathered in their 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 205 

evening devotion. Thy childhood again flits to thy view, 
the prayer thy loving mother taught cometh upon thy lip, 
and again thou dost seem clasping that loved mother's 
knee a happy child. 

23. When thou leavest the studio of the Inspired Por- 
trayer of God's Truth, thou art a better man. Thou hast 
been benefited by viewing truth in simplicity. 

24. No Rules — no lines and shades need be understood, 
for the plain, simple truth is there revealed, and thou dost 
see its greatness. 

25. How different thy feelings whilst viewing the scenes 
portrayed by the stiff brush the ruled hand doth use ! The 
drawing, forms, and colors may be well described, but 
upon thy spirit doth not come that which maketh it rejoice 
with the joy and mingle thy tears with the weeping. 

26. All within thee vibrates to Inspiration, and is by 
outside curbing Rules shocked. 

27. Thy eye useth God's light through which to view all 
things, and through this light beauty only can be revealed. 
The uncongenial, discordant colors hurt the inner light of 
thine eye, and it turns away not knowing why. 

28. The light is an intelligent principle. If the outside 
body of light only be used, color alone is seen ; whereas 
if the life of light within the painter dwelleth, his coloring 
assumeth this lifelike expression, which expression Rules 
nor lines can ever measure. 

29. It can no more be imitated than can God's voice. 

30. Painter, if thou hast talents, water them at God's 
pure fountain, else drop thy brush and easel, and seek 
some drudgery that requireth less of thee. 

31. Nature is thy field. Art may help thee, but beware 
lest it tie thee fast with its selfish cords. 

32. Paint things as they are. If thou canst not do this, 
the intelligent light reveals thee in thy painting. 

33. Color as Nature coloreth ; always remembering that 
between light and darkness thou must work. The lovely 
Pose in different lights is not the same in appearance. It 



206 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

is not in particulars, but in generals, that true painting is 
distinctly seen. 

34. Expression is instantly placed on its proper level by 
the first glance of the gazer. If he have to look for it, the 
painting is bad, unless it be painted expressly to puzzle the 
beholder. 

35. The harmonious whole of the picture strikes the vision 
of the beholder, and at his leisure he views the minutiae. 

36. If he have to build thy picture out of thy glaring 
Particulars, he will pass on ere his task is finished. 

37. Catch the eye with expression, and judgment will 
have a hard trial ere it dethrone thy merit. 

38. How lovely the natural landscape ! "What makes it 
lovely ? 'Tis thy Light- within viewing the blending of the 
light and darkness without. To prove this, it merely re- 
quires the shutting of thy eyes. Then do not forget that 
every man hath this light-within, and useth it to view thy 
blending of light and darkness. As thou art true unto the 
outer, so will the inner exalt or condemn thee, for they are 
as cause and effect connected. 

39. It is no easy task to represent life with dead colors. 
Surely God, thy Father, must aid thee, in order to accom- 
plish this much-desired end. He produceth life from death, 
light from darkness ; thou must construct with death that 
which seemeth life, and with his help surely the task were 
easier. 

40. Practical Kules and skill, however accomplished, can 
not arrive at the point where inspiration begins. 

41. Death without God produceth no life. If within thy 
breast God hath never lighted the inspired flame, thou 
mayest ever work and never be exalted. 

42. Dost thou think that through thy hand can come 
beauties thou dost not feel ? Harmony is the Key-note of 
the universe, and thou must be harmonious within thyself, 
and blend thy harmonious feelings in the labor of thy 
hand, else Immortality to thee will be as dead as thy life- 
less painting. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 207 

43. What influences thee to act? a desire for earthly 
fame ? If so, act as if thou wert above the earth. Man- 
kind look at thy paintings as if thou wert not among them 
— as though thou didst by magic spell call down from 
Heaven beauties rare, and unto their astonished gaze open 
the far-off future. 

44. Thou, to live, in the present or future, as an artist, 
must be inspired. Ask thyself why " Old Masters" are so 
closely studied ? They were true men. They builded for 
themselves, and God's own hand sustained them. 

45. Yet thou art not they. Carve for thyself a monu- 
ment, and for thy Father's sake and glory do not have it in 
the same mould cast. 

46. Be original as God made thee. Learn all thou canst 
from others, but never lose thyself in their productions. 

47. If thou hast not talents enough to glorify thyself, do 
not do so, or attempt to do so, at another's heels. 

48. Walk for thyself. Is there no great truth in thy line 
yet undiscovered? and dost thou not know that the dis- 
coverer is always far more glorified than the one who useth 
that discovered ? If thou dost not know this much, it will 
be impossible for thee to ever appreciate true painting. 

49. Do as thy talents direct ; and if thou • dost fail to 
fulfill thy own ideas, how couldst thou ever fill another's ? 

50. Look over the records of the Past. Take a view of 
those who have been termed Immortalized. Thou wilt not 
find one who was so glorified by Imitation. 

51. Immortality and Imitation can never be connected. 

52. All things are different — Original. Thou canst not 
successfully imitate, and must at last be original, save the 
schooling in imitation — the loss of valuable time — thou 
hast undergone. 

53. Thou art viewing the prized sketch of an " Old 
Master," yet do not flatter thyself thou seest it as he. He 
caught it on an Inspired pencil — his spirit was wrapped in 
the work, he forgot all form and rule ; and there is the 
production, which after hundreds of years have passed 



208 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



away is looked upon as most valuable — valuable to draw 
rules from ! which rules can never fit the picture, and can 
never fully be executed if they do. 

54. Thou dost look with cold eyes, spirit dull and heavy. 
He prized it as his life ! Ay, it was part of that life, and 
he loved it as he did his hold on earth. 

55. Is it strange thou canst not imitate him and his 
w r ork ? Thou canst not feel as he felt ; caust not see as he 
saw. It was his own work ; 'tis not thine, and can never 
be. 

56. Oh ! would men be true unto themselves, and thus 
be true unto God and their fellow-man, the earth would be 
a lovelier home, and God's visits far more frequent there- 
unto. 

57. True men will be free. God is free. Thou art in 
his Image in every thing ; thou art a result, an effect of 
his divine producing. Surely no man can be more than 
this, and should not by his brother be worshiped. 

58. If thy brother excels by truthful reliance upon God 
and his own powers, imitate his reliance, and not that unto 
which his reliance brought him. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

*% If to thy lot it falleth to be unable to appreciate 
color, and yet within thy spirit there is that which giveth 
gratification in constructing the beautiful, sever a Rock 
from its mountain home, and from its bowels draw lovely 
yearning in the sympathizing human heart. 

2. Thou hast nature before thee, and if thou hast the 
proper talent within thee, in stone thou canst reveal it. 

3. God formed his child of the dust of the earth. Thou 
dost imitate him, and indeed he is worthy of all imi- 
tation. 

4. If thou canst with Inspired hand and guiding eye call 
from the rock petrified loveliness, do so, for thus wilt thou 
glorify God. 

5. If within thee such talents live, reveal them, that man 
may know thou art doing thy all, be it however small, for 
the elevation of thy kind. 

6. Beauty was the form all things took when fresh from 
the hand of God they came. He had and has life at his 
command. This on earth thou canst never have ; yet the 
beautiful is as enduring as the life it arises from. 

7. Thou canst with thy chisel carve and shape that which 
man will linger near and gaze upon, wrapt in deepest and 
sublimest thought. 

8. Thou canst show what man inspired can do, and the 
glorious height attained is there in the lifeless statue before 
him. 

9. It can not speak, nay, can not move, yet the lines of 
high and holy thought on that inanimate brow call up 
within the gazer the deep, strong, pure emotions which, 

14 



210 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS, 



though perhaps unknown unto himself, must help him up 
toward his God. 

10. Love thy chisel showeth in quietness reclining, whilst 
angels linger near the very air refining. 

11. Thy spirit seeks thy Father's Throne, sees lovely 
forms perfected, and back to earth it flieth ; the busy 
chisel plieth revealing all in stone. 

12. The Angels from on high circle round thee, giving 
touches ever whose beauties confound thee. Thou dost see 
and feel thy Ideal being replaced by something purer, 
nobler, and higher than thou hadst at first deemed possible. 

13. Inspiration worketh with thy hand, and its produc- 
tions astonish thyself as much as the unpracticed gazer. 

14. Thou dost select the Marble, form thy Ideal, and 
commence the work. As chip after chip flieth from be- 
neath thy chisel, there appears growing from the stone a 
rough, jagged, uncouth form. 

15. This is play. Thou canst do this very well by rule. 
Tools are large and strong in proportion to the work. 
Perhaps thou dost have helpers who need the rudimental 
teaching of thy art. 

16. But when the form assumeth the desired shape, thou 
dost wish to be not only unaided, but alone in thy work. 

IT. As the Features begin to appear, thy strokes are 
lighter and farther between, for now hath come the time 
and place where Rule can never fit. Now thou hast a 
Stone to deal with, and from it thou hast of thyself to show 
thy power to draw a semblance unto life ! 

18. That Brow is blind. Thought is there revealed as 
first within thine own brow 'twas felt. Ay, thou must feel 
thy work, or it will never be by others felt. 

19. Thy brow must be as fair as Love's, or as deep lined 
as thy petrified thoughts, else thou hadst better never take 
up thy Chisel and Mallet. 

20. The Eye begins to appear. Now thou hast thy match. 
In every light 'tis viewed, and surely it is difficult to catch 
the pure expression. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 211 

21. Softly thou dost handle this delicate part, and any 
observer from the expression of thine own eye could in- 
stantly comprehend what thy whole spirit is so intensely 
striving to accomplish. 

22. What rule can carve an Eye ? What form of words 
reveal the knowledge from on high that through its glances 
steal ? 

23. 'Tis done. It is peeriDg into the deep purities of 
Holy Inspiration. Yolumes are written there already. 

24. The Artist drops his chisel, and thanks God for aid 
which he feels he must have had to accomplish such great, 
such grand expression. 

25. The ISTose is turned in perfect beauty. And around 
the Mouth the chisel playeth. 

26. Again the Artist feeleth that help must come from 
Him who first formed the mouth of man, that unto its lov- 
ing sounds his own holy spirit could listen with purest joy. 

27. Upon him descends Heaven's high favor. His spirit 
seems wrapt within an holy influence. Before his eye ap- 
pears a mouth wherein is all that he could desire. 

28. Patiently he labors until his own work seems com- 
muning with him, as did God's pure child with his loving 
Father when first dust spake. 

29. An holy strain of Inspired Eloquence seems flowing 
from those pale lips ; the eye and brow lend their magic 
aid. 

30. The chin is turned, the neck, and hair ; the form, 
complete at last, is viewed, whilst around its feet the stone 
from which 'twas hewed appears. 

31. The Artist gazes on his work enchanted. It is all, 
and more, than he had dared to ask. Yes, and he feels that 
he hath discovered the true secret of success, the attracting 
of Divine Inspiration. 

32. Before the astonished multitude The Orator is pro- 
duced, and silence binds their senses ! They forget that a 
statue is before them, and instinctively wait to hear that 
great expression worded ! 



212 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS, 



33. The spell is broken, and from their spirits burst the 
delighted tones of high enthusiasm ! 'Tis hailed as a God, 
and at its feet the artists of the world all worship ! 

34 Produced from stone by the aid of steel ! The God 
seems perfect beauty. And why not all accomplish such 
great productions, oh ! artists ? 

35. Do ye strive to fill your own Ideal ? God will never 
help thee chisel that which he hath already helped another 
to do. 

36. That which is done seemeth perfect until it is sur- 
passed, and canst thou measure the high attainment ot 
which man is capable ? 

37. Truth in Statuary is, as truth everywhere, Eternal. 
Error is the breath of a day. 

38. If thou dost seek to draw from stone the embodiment 
of some great truth, see that first that truth is highest and 
firmest fixed in thy mind. 

39. Then thou dost have a living reality from which to 
shape thy dead production. Whereas, if thou dost begin 
in doubt, thou wilt most likely end in uncertainty, and thy 
production will of course meet with a very uncertain kind 
of reception among men, particularly among good and 
truthful artists. 

40. Whatever thou dost attempt to carve must be, as it 
were, a part and parcel of thy own life, for thou art work- 
ing in that which is most dead, and of thy superabundance 
of life must fill it. 

41. If, on the other hand, thou art representing Death, 
thy task is easier. Thou hast death helping thee, and it is 
only required to show, with the dead, what Life was. 

42. This does not require the intense feeling that it does 
to represent life correctly. Did it require so much, it could 
never be represented, for death can not be experienced but 
once, and the Artist could not relate or portray his feel- 
ings. 

83. Life can be inspired to reveal Death, but it requires 
less labor and feeling to reveal the expression of death 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 213 

than of Life, because there is less expression to be re- 
vealed. 

44. Sculptor, if thou art seeking Immortality, choose for 
thy hand to execute the highest and holiest objects of which 
thy spirit can conceive. 

45. Love is eternal as God its creator, and whose attri- 
bute it is. All else will cease to enchant or please the hu- 
man spirit, long ere Love be stale or unwelcome. 

46. The Passions of man die with him ; yes, die even in 
his life, and, ere death enshrouds his form, his spirit longs 
for the Love of Heaven. 

47. The dark representations of hatred in its numerous 
forms may astonish and shock the sight — yea, may even as 
exhibitions of skill please mankind. But such statuary 
must crumble and fall unnoticed long ere the deep and 
pure expression of abiding Love. 

48. Do thou represent Love, or reveal Light in the deep 
lines of intense thought upon the brow of thy production, 
and thou art Immortalized. 

49. If thou dost stoop to sell thy talents to the present, 
to feed sectional pride, or the ends of selfishness subserve, 
forgetfulness thou dost earn, and wilt most surely receive. 

50. How canst thou expect to live after death, if thou 
dost represent that which dies before thee ? 

51. Man does not like to view the deformities which ig- 
norance hath brought upon him. He constantly yearns 
after that which is above and beyond his present attain- 
ment, and as he views thy Inspired production, he thanks 
thee for thy labor. 

52. If thou hast represented, however truthfully, the 
glaring, thoughtless eye, and distorted brow of the Maniac 
— the furrowed cheek, disheveled hair, and frothing mouth 
of thy poor, suffering brother, who will want to see thy 
statue the second time ? It will be shunned, as it deserves 
to be. 

53. Love is holier than fear — affection more lasting than 
hatred. 



214 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

54. Oh, strive to represent that which Perfected man 
will' be when upon the earth he stands communing with his 
Father in Heaven ! 

55. Call upon God for thy Ideal, for his holy help, and 
thou wilt a statue form, which, couldst thou quicken with 
the inner Light of God's intelligence, would draw down 
Heaven to earth and reveal its purity unto man. 

56. Oh ! strive to elevate thy kind by this means God 
hath placed within thy power. 

57. Do not think they will not appreciate thy desire — 
they can not help it ; thou art represented in thy work, 
and by thy work will be judged within the spirit of every 
one who views thy production. 

58. It is a condensation, as it were, or a building, out 
of thy inward nature produced. 

59. It represents thyself, at least for the time used in its 
production ; and if thy aspirations are high and pure, thy 
statue will be lovelier than if for effect exclusively thou 
dost labor. 

60. All that raises the thoughts of man, of necessity ele- 
vates him ; and however little thy statue may raise him, 
how much better is this little than if thy work had let him 
down a step by the revealment of some lower desire or 
passion. 

61. If thou dost thrust him by the influence of thy work 
below the level plane on which he stood, thou hadst better 
never taken up the chisel. 

62. Remember always that the eye of a Brother, the 
child of God, is going to view until it crumbles into dust 
that which thou art forming, and guide thy hand to suit. 

63. It is no trifling thing in thy favor if every eye that 
looks upon thy statue is pleased by viewing something 
noble, high, or lovely. 

64. God formed his lovely creation for the eyes of his 
children to view and reap therefrom pure pleasure ; hence 
all is lovely and harmonious. 

65. Thus must thy work be, else how can He be pleased 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 215 

with thee who hast taken His useful work, and from it pro- 
duced the opposite of that which He designed to be pro- 
duced by its very formation ? 

66. Oh ! learn to reach a Brother's spirit through the 
agency of his vision ; even as God giveth pleasure, so do 
thou strive to give it ; thus wilt thou not only raise a 
brother, but in God's sight wilt thou raise thyself. 

67. He would use thee to bring His children home, and 
wilt thou refuse ? His holy voice hath spoken within thee, 
and thou must the voice repeat. 

68. Upon the lovely Earth man was placed with access 
to Heaven. 

69. Deity smiled upon his perfect children, and in his 
high communion they were blessed. 

70. Error hath entered the Household ; flesh hath en- 
croached upon Spirit. 

71. Man was not God. "Within his being was the lower 
creation condensed. His spirit was pure, yet beneath it 
was placed for its government all the desires of the animal 
creation. 

72. Man turned to earth for that enjoyment which only 
animals can elate, and as he turns he falls from the high 
estate his Father had bestowed upon him. 

73. Yes, every child of God hath fallen a victim to error, 
yet think not, oh, man ! that error is God over thy Father, 
for within every spirit born is the curbing, guiding voice 
of an All-wise and loving Parent. 

74:. Thou mayst turn aside from God, but oh ! remember 
thou dost fall against thy Father's will. 

75. He ever wills thy return, the return of All His 
fondly loved children. 

76. The Holy One upon his Throne of Purity reclineth. 
Angelic hosts surround. All seemeth beautiful and serene. 
The voice of Him is heard, ' My child, my child !' 

77. The Creator loveth all, for in their being is that Love 
implanted, which not returning to a Father's heart, leaveth 
therein a void which naught can fill. 



216 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

78. To bring back to His child, to show him distinctly 
the lines dividing truth from error, to elevate him again, 
to place him upon the right hand of His Throne, to again 
elevate his spirit to its primitive purity, the great and ever- 
loving Father resolved. 

79. From His Holy Presence a White Dove flieth. An- 
gels watch its course, and as with speed of thought it takes 
its way earthward, from its bill droppeth the loving tone, 
all words centered into one, the highest, purest, ever known, 
God's own Inspiration. 

80. Down, down to earth it flies, bright Bird from be- 
yond the skies, calling unto man, "Arise, thy Father is 
near !" 

81. With simple living words of truth and love unto 
man it cometh, teaching purity, holiness, and in the light 
of Heaven revealing the Father in mercy dealing with his 
error-smitten child. 

82. Wherever the bird is found, where'er it takes its 
way, Light, Love, blend around, emblems of eternal day. 

83. She whispers to the sweet-voiced one, and unto the 
whisper vibrating is heard Love's gentle tone. It leaves 
the earth, and enchanted spirits listen unto the strain ; and 
when the voice descends, and with denser things blends, 
they fain would hear those tones so dear repeated oft 
again. 

84. And the Pen she wields, and o'er the fields of 
Heaven's loved garden flieth, and from its end doth beau- 
ties send which with their richness vieth. 

85. Now the Pencil she hath taken, and from the earth 
her colors drawn. Her lines are perfect, shading pure ; all 
things beneath her touch revealed in beauty are. 

86. The Kose seems sweet as in the air 'tis swinging ; 
the little Bird is so complete, you listen for its singing. 

87. All blend in lovely colors showing her great Creator, 
master of all good scholars, to be no " Imitator." 

88. With strong and steady hand she grasps the Artist's 
steel, and as if by magic wand pure beauties doth reveal, 






THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 217 

imbedded in the Eock which for ages the shock of tempest, 
of storm, hath withstood. 

89. Whatever she touches blooms as first did earth when 
upon its sod, first in Form, first in might of Power, upon 
it walked our God. 

90. Over the earth man's vision guides, his thoughts on 
high she taketh, and in love provides for wants that error 
maketh. 

91. Her voice cheers him in his trials, and in his enjoy- 
ments purifies his happiness. 

92. She severs his earthly ties, and binds spirit with ties 
of loving affinity unto his Father in Heaven. 

93. She opens upon his mind high hopes of a glorious 
immortality, encourages him in truth, shows perfect light, 
and upon him sheds love's soft and genial beams. 

94. Oh, Man ! without Inspiration thou wert a hopeless 
child. 

95. In his mercy God hath sent his Dove with its bough 
of Inspired promise, and wilt thou reject his offering? 

96. If thou canst do aught as thou hast seen with the 
Pen, the Pencil, or the Chisel, or with aught else to catch 
the vision and elevate the thoughts of thy kind ; if unto 
thee this bird hath come, oh ! reject not the offering, but 
with firm and fearless hand put forth that which is required 
of thee in the reception of thy talents. 

97. Inspiration is a grand earthly center in connection 
with, and under the direct control of, God. 

98. It is a pure fountain at which all must drink ere 
they can forsake their errors and cling steadfastly unto 
truth. 

99. From it branch off all the different avenues that 
conspire to please the spirit of man, and through this high 
pleasure elevate him toward the Fountain whence this 
fountain cometh. 

100. Inspiration hath been misrepresented. Those who 
could not receive it in purity, because their impurity was 
not in affinity with it, have attempted to make plain that 



218 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

which they did not comprehend, and, of course, revealed 
their own ignorance instead of God's knowledge. 

101. Inspiration must reveal truth, must show Light dis- 
tinct and separate from darkness, and prove that Love is 
that which God feeleth toward his children. 

102. Some men think Inspiration does not exist, that is, 
that there is no such thing as God's children on earth re- 
ceiving direct instructions from him. 

103. Individuality is eternal. Man is progressive in na- 
ture. God being perfect can not progress, because there 
is no progressing beyond perfection. God is unlimited, 
and Love is his great binding attribute. Man is limited, 
yet, being, must of necessity have God's love implanted 
in his being, and surely an unlimited God can commune 
with a limited child through his own Holy Attribute within 
the child implanted. 

104. And as Perfection is above imperfection, the com- 
munion must raise the child toward perfection, for He 
alone is progressive. 

105. Inspiration to the one inspired is an infallible guide. 
It is God's voice within the spirit revealed ; and as the spirit 
is for itself responsible unto God, the voice must be unerring. 

106. But every one should remember that all Inspiration 
coming through another organization, must be weighed 
well and closely ere it be allowed to guide. 

107. The Inspired one drank for himself at the fountain, 
and thou must do the same if thou wouldst receive pure 
nourishment. 

10S. He may give thee instructions far more pure than 
can come from the uninspired ; but if thou wouldst know 
what to thee is most pure, drink for thyself. 

109. If lie carry water for thee it may be sweet, but it 
would be cooler and more pleasant and lasting to draw 
and drink at the well for thyself. 

110. To receive properly for another would require a 
a double Individuality to receive, and a double God to 
give. He is one, and unto ones he giveth. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1. An Inspired Teacher, one who has an harmonious 
organization — spiritual development very large — can im- 
part truth in such purity that God alone can see its imper- 
fection. 

2. His words hear the impress of Divinity, and unto 
their tones the human spirit loveth to listen. 

3. Truth flows from him free and strong. He feareth 
nothing save to violate God's loving requirements. Bold 
in truth, yet in flesh simple and unassuming. He hath 
tried God's love, and knoweth its sweetness. 

4. The Earth could not buy his independence of man, 
or his dependence upon God. 

5. His heart feels for his kind, and in all ways and by 
all means strives to do them good. 

6. His duty calls him to teach what godliness is, and he 
doth that duty perform. 

7. A plain, honest man. A mouth which God uses for the 
good of his children. He learns of God, imparts unto man. 

8. Needs no Books — can not be taught save by the Holy 
One whence all cometh. Seeks no reputation, shuns ob- 
servation. In his own silent sanctuary worships. 

9. Speaks not of himself, but waiteth upon God, and His 
pleasure delighteth to do. 

10. Couches great thought and holy truths in little 
words. Feels what he speaks. Says nothing for effect, all 
for the furtherance of truth. 

11. God's Light guideth him, and through him his 
brethren. Love dwelleth within his spirit, a pure spring, 
in which is holy water free unto all that thirst. 



220 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS 



12. God giveth, and lie distributes the gift freely as 'tis 
given. 

13. His pleasure is Godlike, his enjoyment pure. 

14. He hath from his Father learned the blessedness of 
giving. His Father hath given him knowledge, and he 
knoweth that imitating his holy example must bring a 
portion of that pure happiness which God feeleth. 

15. The love of God is within him ; and this pure es- 
sence is not allowed to stagnate, but is sent forth freely 
unto all. 

16. He knoweth that the passage of Love through the 
human spirit bringeth its greatest enjoyment. 

17. A willing hand hath he for a heavy-laden brother. 
His spirit is big with sympathy for his suffering kind. He 
hath seen that God is merciful ; and he never judge th man, 
lest in God's perfect mercy he should not act. 

18. He understands man's nature ; and upon the affec- 
tions he playeth, shunning at all times the darkened 
passions. 

19. He vieweth error as God vieweth it, as undeveloped 
good. 

20. He traces with a keen perception the rays of divine 
Light as they penetrate the dark folds of chaos, and to 
their uttermost extent seeth good. 

21. He mourns in spirit that his brethren will not turn 
toward the light, and forsake the dark background of 
chaotic night. 

22. Light to him is so lovely, so perfect, that in purest 
pity he dealeth with those who will not look toward it for 
guidance. 

23. Love, charity, mercy, humility, and simplicity are 
his great characteristics. 

24. Having seen the simplicity of God's dealings within 
his own spirit, he dealeth in simplicity unto others. 

25. God's charity, and numberless mercies upon himself 
bestowed, showeth him that humility is his highest duty 
unto God. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 221 

26. Love is the food of his spirit. At this pure fountain 
his high and holy aspirations drink deep and lasting 
draughts of celestial joy. 

27. Upon his head the Dove alighteth, and accompany- 
ing angels hover near. Inspired words from his tongue 
gush forth, and upon the human ear fall like lovely 
music. 

28. Simple and slow he commences. "Word by word, 
step by step, his hearers mount the plane. As outside in- 
fluences are forgotten, as his spirit becomes absorbed in 
the flowing truths God's inspirings reveal, his tones are 
purer, words simpler; but oh! such thoughts can only 
come from Heaven. 

29. Onward and upward are the listeners carried on the 
wings of Light ; whilst far away is held at bay the dark, 
deep cloud of night. 

30. Higher and still higher, holier and more pure the 
truths appear, whilst the listening spirits shed the unno- 
ticed repentant tear. 

31. The earth is left with its toiling cares — all left far 
behind — and upon the astonished ear, calling unto his kind, 
doth seem to come from Heaven's high dome the Inspired 
voice of man. 

32. Love, pure from God's great spirit, through his 
child appears to flow to soften man, and once again raise 
him from below to the high place this pure love first 
bestowed. 

33. Truths mighty flow from this man's lips. Unheeded, 
unguided, by his own listening spirit drank in, they roll 
forth clear and transparent. 

34. All is forgotten ; he hath left the earth, and upon his 
ear the loved voice of his God doth fall. His mouth gives 
forth instinctively the rich tones as they fall upon his 
spirit. Oh! how it gushes now, as from Heaven's own 
purity the truths are selected, bound by love, and by light 
in harmony connected. 

35. God seems again on earth, and man seems by his 



222 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS 



side ; the Father and son seem bound in one, and down 
the tide of holiness seem floating. 

36. Far out they go to the boundary of all His works, 
the Father teaching his child in accents mild, who well His 
pure wisdom marks. 

37. Together wander over space, see wisdom in all things 
blending, see love, charity, and grace, attributes never 
ending, in all things manifested. 

38. And now again to earth they come, show the beau- 
ties of this lovely home God gave unto man. 

39. Encourage him with bright promises of a happy 
home at last, wherein all are sheltered from the fearful 
chilling blast of error. 

40. His voice sinks down from its grand and sublime 
tones unto the soft and encouraging strains of Love. 

41. Mercy beameth in every word; charity of God unto 
his child is proven in simple, plain, comprehensive words 
of truth. 

42. Man is shown how to ascend the heights of purity, 
and therein reap as his reward the never-ending commu- 
nion of his God. 

43. Shown his erring ways in contrasting with the rays 
of his Father's glory his own selfish life. 

44. The returning child is helped along his way, and the 
unheeding one admonished to return to a loving Father's 
Heart. 

45. As the Inspired Teacher ceaseth, the multitude re- 
main in unbroken silence of deep meditation. Within 
their spirits has the pure fire been kindled, and by the 
silent spell 'tis known to be burning deep and low beneath 
the outer ears of the body. 

46. An holy voice hath whispered in every listener, 
" Come home, child, come home." 

47. The seed is planted which in the harvest shall 
abundantly repay the one who planted and the one who 
reaps. 

48. Inspiration is never lost nor wasted. That which 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 223 

from it flows is purity — part of God unto his child be- 
queathed as an unerring guide. 

49. It ever seeketh its home. The pure Bird longeth to 
return whence it came, with the message, "All is well, the 
mission accomplished, Thy Child hath come !" 

50. Banished from Heaven, to return only when the chil- 
dren of God worship him in spirit and in truth, each and 
every one partaking daily of her promises, the pure Dove, 
Inspiration, to the earth was sent. 

51. Knowledge unbounded she hath in her possession. 
Treasures of lovely promises made on earth, fulfilled in 
Heaven. 

52. A bright and joyous bird ! Upon the Orator she 
sends beams of heavenly thought ; he catches them, and 
before the gaze of man shows bright and holy glances of 
his future happy home. 

53. Opposition quails before her. Error, the child of 
chaos, born of man, flees before her. Enmity is between 
them, yet Inspiration conquereth ever. . 

54. Before her pure wings the sable child retreats, and 
still retreats, until his darkness blends with the perfect 
blackness whence he came, and, unpursued, the pure one 
returns to the loving source, to depart no more forever. 

55. Oh! Bird of God's love! hover near his child, and 
with words of truth, in accents mild, His yearning show to 
those misled. 

56. Oh ! prove to him that his Father's holy spirit goeth 
out after the fondly loved one continually. Show him to 
be a God of mercy, who loveth to forgive, and who is 
never tired in well doing. 

57. Call upon him in his hours of grief, or in the deep 
and silent meditation of his spirit, call, " Child of God, 
return !" 

58. Show him the vacant mansions in the House of his 
Father. Oh ! make him to feel Heaven's joy, that a sweet 
foretaste may incite him on unto the perfection of all 
above ! 



224 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

59. Oh, man ! how blind thou art ! And thon dost thy 
blindness worship ! Whilst God's loved messenger would 
within thine own spirit-sanctuary impart his own pure 
knowledge, thou dost prefer to grovel among the dusty 
volumes of bygone ages, and grasp therefrom the fabrica- 
tions of man ! 

60. Learn God from Books ? And who so grand and so 
sublimely intellectual as to condense God into words that 
will suit all his created children ? 

61. Inspiration, it is thy mission to implant within the 
human spirit each and every truth of which that spirit is 
on earth capable of comprehending. 

62. Thou art the voice, the messenger of God, knowing 
each and every organization, and unto that development 
dost thou give its highest truths and highest duties. 

63. What is flesh? What its highest and proudest 
achievements ? All vanity, considered by the side of the 
food the spirit receiveth from God. 

64. The uninspired may spend the longest life in select- 
ing food from their own fleshy brains, from their own 
storehouse of words ; but within the spirit pure Inspiration 
hath not been, and it can never be imitated. 

65. They may build Temples, Theologies, Gods, to suit 
their own degraded minds, but from their altar Love taketh 
nothing. Inspiration cometh alone within the spirit. 

66. Oh ! how lifeless, how very dusty and void of beauty 
are the forms and creeds by the uninspired compiled ! 

67. God is a living Being, and must with living spirits 
be worshiped. 

68. Do not all things live — do they not change and pass 
away ? Is not error alone man's production, which, in re- 
ward for its production, strives continually to hold him 
back from truth? 

69. Man can not build a stationary religion. He is pro- 
gressive, and can not worship at a stationary altar, without 
indeed he be a hypocrite ; and still, hypocrisy, it should be 
remembered, is not worship. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 225 

TO. Truth is eternal. The Religion founded upon truth, 
though eternal, must constantly assume a different form, 
as age after age adds its newly-discovered truths there- 
unto. 

71. "What folly to attempt to tie back the spirit of man 
to the old worm-eaten theologies of bygone ages ! Truths 
that then were good and pure are so now, and will forever 
be ; yet all were not then discovered that now are known ; 
and surely until time is no more, man can never discover 
all the truths of God. 

72. Of what avail are lifeless forms ? Can they help a 
brother unto his God ? What form can measure his pure, 
loving spirit? Who on earth can comprehend, were it 
measured ? And if incomprehensible unto man, why strive 
to measure at all ? 

73. Great God ! they know thee not, yet would fain 
teach what thou art, and mete out thy love by measure 
unto man ! They know not what they do, and herein is 
their only excuse ! 

74:. Oh, ye uninspired, who presume to teach, how little 
ye seem, and most ignorant ! Teach God, yet know not 
godliness ! Reveal Inspiration, yet know not its quicken- 
ing power ! Mete out Love, yet feel it not ! 

75. Ye erect an uncouth, unharmonious God, the pro- 
duct of designing flesh, selfish, wrathful, and given to 
vengeance ! 

76. The promptings of this Idol sell to the listening mul- 
titude, and drink your fill of the hypocritical worship ! 

77. Wordy temples unto a worldly God erected ; bitter 
denunciations, uncharitable remarks, and even fierce hatred, 
are all brought his unholy self to sustain in power. 

78. Years of laborious study it taketh to comprehend the 
beautiful inconsistencies of this thing, and when all the 
absurdities are by habit of study instilled within the pas- 
sions, the learned one is prepared to violate all the inward 
promptings of his spirit, and with serious cant do homage 
at the feet of his sustaining Idol ! 

15 



226 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

79. No talents are required ; fixed habit is sufficient, for 
the God is thoroughly understood, and can most easily be 
explained. 

80. The scholar, learned of man, arises, and with most 
becoming solemnity calls upon the God his sect hath 
build ed. His system worries through its tiresome worship, 
and when at length the worship ceases, he breathes as 
though the load were heavy, and in this last is most heart- 
ily joined by all who have been near him ! 

81. He hath quoted the best authorities, produced his 
best arguments, and feels proud of the production, and, no 
doubt, the God is proud of him. 

82. He goes through more labor, and tortures himself 
far more to keep within the bounds of a set belief, than 
would be required to annihilate the whole ground plan of 
his acquired belief. 

83. It is every man's duty to listen attentively to the 
voice of God within his spirit heard, and most faithfully 
perform its requirements. 

84:. Man can not teach pure and undefiled Religion. He 
can receive within himself promptings which unto him are 
best and highest, yet to teach these promptings as pure 
voices from God is assuming too much. 

85. God is in every eye viewed by different light, and 
must appear differently unto each eye. God seeth himself 
in thine eye as thou seest him, and he knoweth thereby 
thy vision's extent. 

86. Truths may be taught so far as comprehended, but 
he who would limit truth to his own boundaries is on bad 
ground. 

87. No man can teach another as God can teach him ; 
and as all are children of God it seemeth very assuming to 
strive to pull another into thy path, as though God cared 
not for his children, or did not know how to instruct them. 

88. If thou wouldst teach, and dost know thou art In- 
spired of God, be thou humble, for remember he hath a 
witness in every one who hears thy voice. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 227 

89. Thou must be free from prejudice on each and all 
subjects connected with the welfare of man, must have an 
enlarged understanding, and an enlarged charity. 

90. Beware how thou dost condemn. Be lowly in de- 
portment, humble in speech. 

91. God speaketh to thee in a low, quiet voice, and thou 
shouldst report his speech without using boisterous or 
unseemly language. 

92. In the Daily walks and occupations of Life, practice 
all thou canst of that which within thyself is revealed. 

93. Men mark thy every step and imitate thy every 
action. 

94. As from thy inspired spirit lovely truths flow, thou 
art expected in life to live those truths. 

95. If thou art inconsistent, if thy voice do not proclaim 
the truths which are in thy actions revealed, the voice is 
condemned. 

96. Man looks to the outside of thy life, and is not to 
blame, for he can not see thy inner life and the inner 
instructions. 

97. He judges thee by thy effects ; and hence God must 
judge thee thereby also, for they are the fruit of the seed 
he himself planteth. 

98. If thou art not inspired, oh, presume not to teach 
thy brother the pathway unto God ! A mighty responsi- 
bility rests upon thee, and the chances are fearfully against 
thy rapid progression ! 

99. There is no voice coming from uninspired man that 
can lastingly benefit his kind. He may in the present 
please, yet his production is at best but a handsome 
corpse. 

100. God is the fountain of Life, and life can only be 
nourished at this fountain. From him it came, and to him 
and his presence it must return. 

101. Inspiration is the nourishing life-blood of spirit ; 
given with perfect freedom unto man ; to seek is to find it 
always ready and waiting to bless the seeker. 



228 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

102. It can not be learned, and can not by uninspired 
learning be ever comprehended. God alone understands 
and fully comprehends himself. 

. 103. Inspired knowledge is the only true knowledge. 
All knowledge is from God, whose voice is Inspiration. 

101. If thou art not learned in books, this fact doth not 
annihilate God nor limit his power. Every atom to come 
from his hand must upon it and in it bear the impress of 
that hand. Thou didst come from God, and surely he 
molded thy body, formed thy spirit, and can control each 
part of thee as unto him seemeth best. 

105. "What matter, then, if thou hast not read of Him ? 
or if thou canst not read at all, can He not speak ? and 
surely it requireth no outside learning to hear His voice. 

106. Canst thou not hear the Bird sing, the Wind whistle 
its hymn, the Ocean roar, the Thunder roll ? and if thou 
canst hear His voice through these comparatively dead 
effects, canst thou not hear it within thy living eternal 
spirit essence ? 

107. Oh, ye who are termed " Learned," ye are the 
most ignorant of God's children ! Yet ye build unto him 
learned books ! ye rack your brains for stones to build the 
Temple ! ye make the Altar, and upon it sacrifice a valua- 
ble life unto vanity, your only God ! 

108. Oh, ye worms ! Ye may griaw your own life away 
on earth, and unto your brother's vanity do homage, but 
God's Light condemns you ! 

109. Oh, strive to do good ! Strive to glorify God and 
ye will never be rejected. Striving after holiness on earth 
bringeth holiness in Heaven. 

110. Learning, so termed, hath strewn the path ol man 
with briers, thorns — and beneatli his feet rolled rough, 
sharp, cutting stones. 

111. It leaveth the fountain, seeks it not. Upon effect 
wasteth time. Showeth how effects class together. Show- 
eth the strength, size, durability, and value of effect. Ef- 
fect it is, and unto effect it returns. 






THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 229 

112. Lifeless at birth, produced from dead books, it 
deadens the susceptibility of every spirit with which it 
cometh in contact ! 

113. Around its seat are the glorified fruits it bears — 
dusty volumes encasing dustier contents. 

114. Bringeth unto its votaries an earthly renown, earthly 
monuments — of earth constructed, and by Time unto earth 
consigned. 

115. Stiffens and ties the machinery spirit longeth to 
use, until it groans and grinds out its slow rounds at every 
turn, throwing out husks in which grain hath never been, 
and from which it can never be extracted. 

116. The husks are bound together according to husky 
rules, and are sent out as food unto all husk-eaters. 

117. To the seeker after True, Inspired Knowledge, they 
are dry and most harsh. Grate upon his keen, susceptible 
spiritual perception, as discordant sounds unto the harmo- 
nious ear. 

118. Whether spoken or written, or without either — the 
glancing of the eye — within Inspiration is an attraction 
man's spirit can not resist. 

119. It revealeth unto the Blind Light-within that can 
never be fully worded. It supplieth all senses with their 
highest and purest gratification. 



CHAPTER XV 



1. The Inspired Yoice is sweetest music. That which 
manifests itself through different organs, and comes forth 
from the hand of The Inspired Composes, is of more last- 
ing, more concise, and of more comprehensive nature. 

2. The ear is a quick messenger unto the brain ; and the 
brain, stimulated by the Inspired voice, throws upon the 
perceiving spirit rapid showers of knowledge — but they 
pass along with such speed, only their pleasing effect is 
left thereupon when the voice ceases. 

3. The ear tires with slow speech. 

4. The eye is quick as thought in its glances — ay, 
quicker — and unto the passive spirit bringeth through the 
mind quick views of lovely scenes which require no di- 
gestion in the mind, being self-evidently lovely or the 
reverse. 

5. But the eye feeds the mind slowly and deliberately, 
as o'er the page of Inspired knowledge, traced by the In- 
spired Composer, it searcheth. 

6. Every word is well weighed, for he hath not one too 
many — and every sentence studied, for each successive 
glance seems to reveal some new beauty or some new 
truth. 

7. His Book opens with Truth, explains truthfully, and 
when perused and closed, leaves the impress of truth upon 
the passive spirit. 

8. Reopened, new truths appear that w T ere unobserved 
before ; the reason being, a different light is shed upon 
them through the beholding spirit. 

9. "Writer, if thou art inspired, fear not ; God's light is 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 231 

in thy every word, and it will be read, and by His children 
be comprehended. 

10. Inspiration can not be successfully resisted ; and if 
thou feelest the holy power shedding o'er thee its sweet 
influence, oh, give words to the feeling. 

11. Ask none to take thy productions as pure; remember 
thou art a man, and mayest err even in judging of thy 
own Inspiration. 

12. Do thou write, and leave the rest with God. It is 
thy duty to give as thou receivest. If it do not fit a 
brother, it may shelter him while he maketh for himself a 
garment. 

13. Write for the good of all. This thou must do if in- 
spired, for there is no goodness not of God. Reveal his 
simplest truths thankfully — for are not his greatest truths 
simplest? Are they not all of him? And canst thou 
judge better than he which should by thee be written ? 

14. Depend implicitly upon God. If he fail, who can 
sustain thee ? Expect not favor from man ; for surely if 
they were all inspired, it would be scarcely necessary for 
thee to write thy feelings — all would have the feelings and 
knowledge unto their best welfare adapted. 

15. Study and laborious thinking are unnecessary. Be 
thou a passive instrument in God's hands, and from thy 
Pen shall flow truths firm and pure, and in such simple 
style clothed, that all thou writest will be thankfully re- 
ceived by thy brethren. 

16. Silent, passive meditation will always strengthen 
thee against the time of need. 

IT. Shun all unharmonious and uncongenial influences. 
Quietly walk and commune with thy instructing Father. 
Man can not teach thee; God would fain through thee 
teach him his duty. 

18. He would through thy instrumentality open channels 
leading into a brother's spirit — He would awaken the dor- 
mant spirit, and upon its reopened susceptibility pour His 
own pure knowledge. 



232 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

19. He does not expect thee in person to combat with 
the world without, but from thy quiet retirement He would 
send forth glorious beams of light that shall darkness re- 
move from the world without. 

20. There are those who will give sound unto thy words, 
voice unto thy pen ; do thou quietly and patiently work 
thy Father's will as he shall direct, knowing that thus 
thou must be exalted in his sight. 

21. If before thee open the broad fields of Science, the 
deep researches of Philosophy, or the lighter rays of more 
easy Literature, enter thou in, never fearing but that God 
will bring forth through thy instrumentality great and grand 
productions. 

22. Surely He is Master of all ; and as all the truths in 
science, philosophy, or any other class of literature are but 
rays of His own Divine Intelligence, thou canst, with His 
help, make them plain. 

23. Thou canst trace the rays inward, and, while other 
writers strive to grapple with effect, thou canst prove the 
effect to be but a production of an inward and still inward 
cause, until thou dost condense, confine, and prove all 
existing causes but effects of one grand, good, eternal 
center, even the God and Father over all. 

24. Philosophy, to thy view, will bring the harmonious 
arrangements of effects, show them blending, uniting, and 
striving to prove unto man that God is indeed good. Thou 
wilt trace after their causes, leaving previous conclusions 
and applications far behind, and come out boldly before 
man, proving why God arranged them thus. 

25. Philosophers have seldom striven to show God's con- 
nection with his creation. Content with showing what 
they could comprehend of effects — their effect upon other 
effects — they have made effect cause, and forgotten the 
Cause of causes. 

26. Man, being the highest on earth, should have all 
things represented and executed in such manner as to do 
himself most good. Surely the Philosophy of Effect must, 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 233 

unto man, be dead at his death, and can not advance him 
toward the Heaven wherein Cause reigneth. 

27. Philosophy is but that which shows the connection 
between cause and effect. Is not God all cause, and is not all 
else effect ? Then, surely, to understand philosophy prop- 
erly, thou must understand first thy own connection with, 
and dependence upon, God. 

28. Thou wilt, with Inspired Pen, show the Scientific 
true science — the Philosophers true philosophy — prove all 
to be results of God's producing Love for Man. 

29. Think not that it is impossible for Inspiration to 
enter the region of that termed "Light Literature." 

30. There are in God's works an endless variety, and 
thou hast seen lovely flowers growing on the border of the 
deep river, or upon the side of the majestic mountain. 

31. Do thou imitate Him and His ways. If thou art 
called or dost feel a power to write light and pleasing pro- 
ductions for the good of thy kind, do so ; but be thou sure 
that beside thy flowers is the deep, pure current, or the 
majestic height of God's own truth. 

32. Children will gather thy flowers, but will have to 
see the pure and placid river, and reflect upon its strong, 
flowing water ; or, scaling the mountains to grasp thy 
sweets, will be so elevated as to see new beauties in the 
plane below which were before unobserved. 

33. The Human mind, and spirit too, tires under con- 
stant, heavy lading, and longs for resting activity. Surely 
all can rest, scenting ef thy sweet bouquet, and viewing 
before them thy lovely scenes. 

34. The tired wayfarer stops in his path to rest, and from 
the waving bush plucks a flower, carries it with him until it 
withers, but always remembers the bush whence it came. 

35. Oh, be ever willing to please thy kind with that 
which in pleasing imparts lasting good. 

36. Let opposers enjoy their opinions, but let thy pen 
write, for God sustains and will guide thee unto a sure 
reward. 



234 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

37. The violent opposition unto light Literature hath 
tended to hold back the true and good from writing, and 
let loose the heedless and uncaring, who have flooded the 
world, as it were, with muddy streams in which is con- 
tained the selfishness of the uninspired composer. 

38. They have builded distorted characters, belied hu- 
manity, and set a good and loving Father's will at naught* 
in their very action of writing. 

39. Light loads to the tired spirit, mind, or body are 
always welcome. 

40. Such writers build their monuments upon this very 
tired feeling which all men at times have. They give an 
attractive title to their nonsense, and the listless one 
obtains, reads, throws by, and forgets at the end of the day ; 
perhaps wondering why such stuff was written, perhaps 
not even giving it this much thought. 

41. With rest cometh forgetfulness ; but one copy hath 
been perused, and one atom added unto the monument of 
the composer. 

42. How very different the productions of the Inspired 
one ! 

43. Truth, simplicity, and love stand out boldly. The 
light garb thrown around their pure forms only serves to 
make them assume the light and airy shape suited best 
unto the organization of the writer. 

44. Every character hath a grounding in firm truth. 
Every word used is simple, natural, and plain, and the love 
represented secmeth the essence angels use, let down from 
Heaven to elevate man. 

45. Should trifling mistakes or incongruities appear unto 
the reader, ho covers them with the abundance of good 
intentions he feels to be contained in the work. 

46. Critics may send their darts, envy try its sting, 
but all in vain ; the spirit of man hath been touched by 
God's inspired instrument, and must vibrate unto the 
touch. 

47. True unto God and man, thou canst not write that 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 235 

which is uninspired, nor that which man will not appre- 
ciate. 

48. Interest — selfish, earthly interest — may buy opposers, 
but the strongest are weak before God. 

49. If thou hast talents to write, let thy hand do its duty. 
Talents are given by God for his glorification, and should 
be used therefor. 

50. Remember thou art responsible for thine inherit- 
ance. Glory awaits thee, if true unto thy calling. 

51. Strive always to have the attributes of God within 
all thy writings manifested, and all will be well. 

52. If thou art led into the Theological fields of litera- 
ture, beware thou art not punctured or bruised by the 
briers or stones therein. 

53. Show unto man the true character of God, as within 
thyself revealed. 

54. Show them True Worship to consist in the Individ- 
uality of man's inner being worshiping God as within 
himself revealed. 

55. Show that each and every man must worship, not a 
different God, but the same God differently. 

56. Encourage each one to seek for himself, and show by 
thy own happiness that to seek is to find. 

57. Oh, be sure thou hast indeed God's help, else enter 
not these fields, for every one who enters assumes a fearful 
responsibility ! 

58. Be sure thou hast indeed Inspired knowledge, ere 
thou dost attempt to show others inspiration. 

59. Life must exist in thy every word ; Love and Light 
blend in exalted truths ; pure reasoning, learned of God, 
prove His purity from the simplest evidences thou canst 
bring. 

60. Herein thou hast indeed a wide field, for herein 
should center all true knowledge. Such knowledge as God 
himself only creates. Such knowledge, the simplicity of 
which should confound the wise and great among men, and 
still unto children be plain. 



236 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

61. A knowledge of God's ways must elevate man. 

62. Every Book written should have as a foundation 
Truth. 

63. Iso matter what subject upon, or in what manner 
discussed, truth should be written indelibly on every page 
of it. Remember, writer, Truth is the only thing that can 
be written indelibly, and words once penned are hard to 
recall. 

64. Hence, if thou dost attempt, unaided, to show the 
character of God — a character which, unaided, thou canst 
not comprehend, Inspiration will condemn thee in the 
spirit of every man who peruses thy writings. 

65. Shut out all preconceived opinions. Calmly and 
patiently await thy Father's time and pleasure. If thou 
dost sincerely desire to write that which shall lastingly 
benefit man, and do not write one word, remember thy de- 
sire hath been all required of thee, else thou wonldst have 
received power. 

6Q. Thou art a poor and prejudiced judge of thy own 
talents, and may have drawn wrong conclusions. 

67. That which God require th will be made plain. Is 
it not large enough ? Canst thou carry a heavier burden ? 
Canst thou carry as much as he thou thinkest a favored 
brother? 

68. Ask thyself if thou canst fully appreciate that given 
unto thee ? Art thou judge over God's gifts? Canst thou 
tell Him which is greatest or most important ? 

69. God requireth no uncertain action. Thou must know, 
else write not, neither speak nor act. 

70. Uncertainty of faith hath given unto God false colors 
of character, by the hand and voice of those who should 
especially glorify him by virtue of their great profession. 

71. An uncertain man writeth the character of an uncer- 
tain and wavering God. 

72. He portrays his own character, and sets it up for the 
universal worship of man. He can not without help from 
above write that which is above his comprehension ; and 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 237 

surely an uncertain, unsteady, and wavering organization 
can not correctly delineate the perfection of truth, of love, 
and of light, as revealed within the unchangeable charac- 
teristics of God. 

73. Want of proper appreciation of God's character, and 
man's ignorance of his own failings, hath loaded his brain 
with dry productions from Theological pens, until Inspira- 
tion can scarcely obtain sway in any mind on earth. 

74. Surely God is alive. And can he be honored, or* 
comprehended, or explained by the dead ? 

75. Put Life in thy writings — do not trim God down 
until thou hast nothing left but thine own selfish image. 

76. Thou wert made, and should be, in His image, but 
do not strive to reduce Him to thy own stature. It were 
far better to leave His character entirely alone, and live 
and die unnoticed, than to be noticed simply because igno- 
rant and presumptive. 

77. Do not strive to add unto the mass of words already 
afloat before the eyes of man. If thou canst not quicken 
that which cometh by God's own inspiring light, keep idle, 
and thus be no active dishonor unto him. 

78. Surely there is enough trashy writings in the world ; 
and when thou hast written the last inspired truth, stop — 
knowing that all added cometh of selfish error. 

79. Theology and Inspiration should never separate ; if 
they do, the former must inevitably fall before the stroke 
of time. 

80. Justice, being one of God's great distinguishing 
qualities, must always be evident in his voice. 

81. If thou hast the organization which lets in it Inspira- 
tion in the shape of an enlarged sense of God's justice, do 
not stop thy hand because, perchance, man be unjust. 

82. "Write down all oppression. Strive to bring all thy 
kind unto an appreciation of supreme justice. Show them 
that to be just one to another, is a duty implanted in and 
proven by the very elements in which and by which they 
exist. 



238 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

83. Show the numberless blessings bestowed upon them 
by their mutual Parent. Show that all men are brethren, 
and in God's sight responsible for their own powers. 

84. Stir up their heart's best feelings, and encourage 
them to help their needy brethren. 

85. This is thy duty, and whithersoever oppression exists, 
there must thou strike. 

86. The spirit is first on earth, and greatest. Therefore 
commence thy labor in the spirits of thy kind. Eemove 
error from man, and injustice will leave him instantly. 

87. Get the motive-power right, and the results will be 
good. 

88. Illuminate dark minds by the light of inspired knowl- 
edge, and thus wilt thou do great good. 

89. There is no freedom not of God. Being bound in 
spirit unto God is man's highest and purest freedom. 

90. But, oh, man, when thou dost bind a brother unto 
thee, thou hadst better have the millstone chained to thy 
neck and be thrown innocent into the Sea ! 

91. Take a brother from God's loving care and presume 
to task him for thy selfish gratification ? Oh, why assume 
such fearful responsibilities ? Why for flesh and upon 
fleshy shrines sacrifice the high capabilities of spirit ? 

92. It is indeed a fearful position to hold ! own a 
brother ? be unto him a Master ? art thou God ? 

93. God is merciful, and loveth the oppressor equally 
with the oppressed. He vieweth them with perfect light, 
and for man it would be most difficult to tell which in his 
sight is seen most favorably. 

94. Light is the standard of Justice. If the oppressor 
know he be wrong, he surely can not be right ; yet if he 
know not, how can light in his ignorance condemn him ? 

95. Be charitable with thy pen. Strive to elevate man 
by giving him knowledge. Give him exalted knowledge 
of God's justice, and then if he use not this knowledge 
righteously, he is by the light rendered as unjust. 

96. Do not thou be unjust unto him simply because he 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 239 

be so unto others. God hath never made thee his judge, 
and injustice in thee is no better than in him, and if thy 
light be greater, thy injustice would also be, didst thou 
wrongly condemn him. 

97. Mistaken justice is not justice at all. Those who 
uncharitably condemn their brethren whose light is less 
than their own, are upon sandier foundations than the 
condemned. 

98. A violent headlong Philanthropy, so termed, is a 
dangerous thing for man. It binds his spirit with the 
worst of passions, and in every action thwarts that which 
true Philanthropy would accomplish. 

99. A slave to passion is a slave to ignorance and error, 
the worst and most debasing slavery on earth. All true 
freedom commences in the spirit of man when the first 
ray of God's pure Love and of his Light falls upon 
him. 

100. If God be the only perfectly free, the Godlike must 
approach nearest freedom. Then see thy task ; strive to 
make men Godlike. All mankind are his children ; hence 
thou canst be bound in thy sympathies by no sectional 
creed or influence without danger of losing thy inward 
power. 

101. Do good ; be just impartially unto all ; be a monu- 
ment unto the pure justice thou dost strive to teach unto 
others. 

102. An inconsistent teacher is never heeded. If thou 
dost enter the field against oppression with its own pas- 
sionate weapons, if thou dost conquer, the weapons defile 
thee and all who operate with thee. 

103. Do not attempt to remove hatred with hate, for 
all who behold the fierce contest will be harmed by a view 
of it. 

104. Love contrasted with dark passions seems lovelier 
and more attractive from the contrast. 

105. Love all, strive to do them good, and thou canst 
not harm them. 



240 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

106. Wield thy pen for the Glory of God, and thy glori- 
fied spirit shall dwell eternally in his holy presence. 

107. It is a mighty weapon, and a mighty responsibility 
is attached unto the using of it. Oh ! if not conscious of 
God's sustaining help, never write one word, for thou canst 
not know the full extent of wrong one erroneous word may 
be unto man. 

108. From her pure wing the loved bird Inspiration 
plucked a strong quill. She gave it unto God's chosen 
Scribe, saying, " Write faithfully the Will of thy Father 
in Heaven. 

109. " Heed no man. God hath selected thee. That 
which shall be written will be pure beyond the measure 
of man. If thou dost not thyself comprehend, write, and 
God will in time reveal unto thee all the mysteries of 
Heaven. 

110. " Bring back, man, thy erring brother, unto that 
pure state his spirit in childhood enjoyed. Childhood is 
man's Eden — the lovely land vrherein all is lighted by 
God's own pure rays. The children of God bring back to 
this simple, innocent, trusting state, and bid them look to 
God as their great good and fondly-loving Parent. 

111. " Scribe of God, get thee to thy task." 

112. The voice ceased. The bright Bird alighted upon 
his head, around his form her lovely influence shed, and 
with slow and fearful tread he commenced his journe} r . 

113. Word by word came slowly. The Pen wrote them 
as they came, simple, plainly, lowly, yet in them ever the 
same, deep, strong truths from Heaven. 

114. Patiently, silently, prayerfully the task was com- 
menced, and firmly continued. Obstacles were surmounted 
outwardly and inwardly. As experience grew upon him, 
as from the droppings of his pen he learned the depths and 
purity of his Father's Love, his hold became firmer, style 
simpler, and oh, what conciseness and clearness was used 
to bring out faithfully the truths shed down upon him ! 

115. The Bird ascended oft to Heaven, and from its 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 241 

King received new and greater knowledge to bring down, 
and through His Scribe send out over the earth. 

116. Love became seen in purity, Light clear and trans- 
parent, Truth by them composed sent out an attractive 
glow unto erring man. 

117. God shone forth in his own pure rays. The erro- 
neous views of his character were all removed, and he was 
revealed in truth a loving Father unto man. 

118. Error, terror stricken, fled before him. Dark pas- 
sions were by Heaven's holy rays purified, giving earth 
unto earth, and spirit unto God. 

119. Whatever subject his pen touched, shone forth in 
new beauties, or in such darkness was revealed that all 
mankind shunned them. 

120. Divine Inspiration clothed him, and his countenance 
shone as an angel's fresh from God. 

121. The Dove dictated every word, stopping ever and 
anon to see if the pen would move without aid ; but no, as 
the last pressure of its bill was felt, the hand stopped until 
again admonished to move. 

122. He entered fearlessly unexplored regions, and was 
astonished at the simple beauties therein. His mind ex- 
panded, his thoughts became higher, and his aspirations 
holier and more pure, as indeed he felt upon him the hand 
of God directing his children heavenward. 

123. Unlearned of men, and chosen of God to confound 
the wise, he firmly and fearlessly penned his way before 
him into the deep recesses of true and hidden knowledge. 

124. Unto his astonished gaze opened the bright realms 
of God's own home ; and entering in he .plucked boughs 
of lovely promises, brought to earth and freely gave them 
unto man. 

125. He was by the Dove taken unto the Throne of the 
Great Creator, and from his own Holy Hand received the 
Key of Knowledge — and from the Divine lips was bid, 
"Take this key, use it on earth ; at death thou shalt bring 
it back unto me." 

16 



24:2 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

12 G. He opened first the door of man's affections, showed 
him the beauties enthroned therein, learned him how to 
quicken the entombed into new life, and to bring forth 
glory out of error. 

127. He traced the darkened rays of selfishness until he 
saw them entering the central chaotic blackness. 

128. He viewed the lovely earth, sallied forth over 
mountains, plains, and majestic rivers. 

129. He wandered among effects, and those who wor- 
shiped them, but returned sickened and tired in spirit. 

130. In his quiet retirement the Key unlocked the door 
whence the pure rays come to earth ; and herein came food 
so sweet, so pure, and so nourishing, that he grasped the 
Inspired pen, to loose his hold upon it no more until he is 
bid " Bring back the Key." 

131. Faithful unto death, truth's scribe, be thou. Serve 
God with thy pen as required. Use thy Key, and unto 
thee will earth come to be purified. Man will seek thee 
out to bless thee, for seed thou hast unknowingly planted 
in his spirit. 

132. The old will totter to thy side to give their last 
blessing unto thee ! the strong will grasp thy hand, and 
feel proud to shake the hand that holds the Key of Inspired 
Knowledge! Mothers will teach their babes to lisp thy 
name, and in their childish way ask God to bless thee ! 

133. The poor, oppressed by passion, by flesh, or by 
selfish degradation, will thank thee for thy helping hand, 
that by writing a timely word saved them from the darkest 
despair. 

134. Oh, scribe ! wherever thou art, let every word 
glorify God, for thou knowest not the day lie may call thee 
hence with his Key. 

135. What is earth to thee? What all that erring man 
can produce ? Art thou not called by God unto a glorious 
mission ? 

136. Oh, do not upon a few years on earth sacrifice a 
high and glorious seat in Heaven ! 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 243 

137. Oh, do not, by neglecting God's glorious gift, limit 
thy comprehension, and class thyself among the erring! 
but by a glorious faithfulness earn a glorious immortality. 

138. Write for truth, and truth will sustain thee. Write 
for love, and love will give thee pure enjoyment. Write 
to illustrate God's Light — Intelligence pure and spotless— 
and thou wilt learn therein highest and holiest knowledge. 

139. Be faithful unto God, and he will never desert thee. 

140. Thou wilt need His constant aid ; for unaided by 
Heavenly knowledge, earthly selfishness would entrap or 
enthrall thy pen. 

141. Be firmly and fearlessly God's scribe, and thou wilt 
never write in vain ; but every word will glorify him on 
earth, and thee throughout an endless eternity. 

142. Called of God to labor, his hand will reward thee. 

143. He is just; do thy duty, and all will be well. 

144. Oh, it is indeed a blessed thing to be called of God 
to labor for him ! Thousands upon thousands live and die 
on earth, scarcely giving him one thought, action, or aspi- 
ration ; but oh, how limited their reward ! 

145. To be called of God because of humble reliance 
upon his helping kindness, is indeed the greatest blessing 
his earthly children can enjoy. 

146. He withholdeth nothing that can be of lasting use 
unto them, but openeth freely his treasures of love and 
knowledge, saying, "Enter in and enjoy." 

147. Oh, how good is God ! Write on, write on, scribe ! 
God's loving smile sheds o'er thee the light that filleth 
Heaven with celestial joy ! Oh, what rich rewards await 
thee ! Earthly conception can not measure God's boun- 
teous love. Thy comprehension will expand with the life- 
giving truths thou dost pen, until thou wilt be pronounced 
worthy to enter the holiest and highest realms wherein 
God's Throne is surrounded by all essencic purity. 

148. To dwell in the presence of high heaven's purest 
One, is indeed worth a life of care, trouble, or the bitterest 
agony. 



244 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

149. "Write as the Dove shall guide— write the loving 
Will of God. Oh ! let naught turn thee aside — be thou 
his chastening rod. 

150. Reveal Him unto man in lovely colors drawn ; 
show godliness in every line, and from His hand show man 
descending unto earth to again return to Him in Heaven. 

151. Show him in truth precisely as the voice of Inspi- 
ration teacheth.thee. 

152. Thou art God's penman, elected to the high office 
by his own Almighty will ; and if faithful, that will 
uphold thee even though the earth pass away, and chaos 
again return in the channels wherein life is wont to 
flow. 

153. Knowledge is unbounded as God ; for is it not his 
own great Intelligence? Oh, then, never fear that thy 
productions will be old or stale repetitions of that which 
may have been before produced ; for as the ever-flowing 
river it shall pass along to the boundless ocean of God's 
Intelligence, and by the action of His almighty will be 
again carried to the mountain springs, to again pass down 
through the same channel, yet never the same water — 
through the mountain pass, the dark ravine, or the dark 
green meadows of earth bordered by loveliest flowers, 
passing and ever passing, yet never the same stream, never 
the same waters of truth. 

154. An endless variety, yet ever truth — God's own 
eternal truth ! 

155. Mightiest of the mighty — the throne of God ! The 
Guard of all his power ! unpervertible, unchangeable, yet 
ever varied, and in all things differently represented. 

156. Around the little bud clustereth volumes of hiofh 
and pure thoughts. Centering in, cause after cause be- 
cometh visible, until 'tis seen to be the atomis part of a 
great and grand whole, whose refined sweetness is by Deity 
himself enjoyed. 

157. Truth, how grandly simple thou art ! Yet of what 
strength ! Thou art eternity ! The scepter of Almighty 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 245 

God, yet the supporting staff of his weakest, humblest 
child on earth ! 

158. Oh ! scribe of God's choosing, thou dost wield the 
mightiest weapon on earth. Thou canst with thy pen grasp 
all the powers of man, and turn them all toward God. 
Limit not thyself by man's chains ; snap asunder all that 
would stand between thee and the fountain of true knowl- 
edge. Always hold fast thy Key, else perchance it may 
drop from thy hand, and thou wilt descend from thy high 
position sorrowing. 

159. Be patient, humble, and let simplicity mark thy 
every step in life. Be steadfastly fixed in thy mission, 
and all that thou canst write can not measure thy eternal 
reward. 

160. God loveth and will protect the faithful. 



CHAPTEK XVI 



1. Inspiration is not confined unto a few of God's chil- 
dren, but hath an avenue leading into every spirit on earth, 
and through the spirit it can affect all the regulations of 
man. 

2. It is not confined, as it were, to the dictation of Ac- 
tion, but can through the spirit become itself manifested in 
power of the action produced. 

3. The Inspired Physician hath powers which unto unin- 
spired men seem most miraculous. 

4. He is one whose spirit is enlarged in sympathy by 
viewing the sufferings of his kind. Unselfish, virtuous, 
above all the things of time, sincere worshiper of God, he 
hath power by God bestowed over all disease. 

5. He enters the chamber of the suffering calm and se- 
rene ; speaks little, yet upon the sufferer's spirit sheds his 
own trusting dependence upon God. 

6. Disease is frightened at his approach. The suffering 
is by his manner half removed. 

7. He at once obtains the assistance of the poor oppressed 
spirit within the sufferer, and thus having the controlling 
power in his aid and sympathy, can surely direct a speedy 
removal of pain. 

8. He never fails where cure is possible. 

9. Physician, thou art unworthy the name, if ignorant 
of the intimate connection of spirit with the mind, and 
through the mind, the body. 

10. The governing power thou canst never reach without 
knowledge from above. If thou knowest no more than un- 
aided Intellect can teach of man, thou canst never appro- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 24:7 

ciate the power of the spirit of which thy intellectual power 
is but a result. 

11. A result can not understand its cause. This should 
be thy first great lessoD in Physic. 

12. To understand the causes of Disease, it is necessary 
to understand first the cause and connection with the spirit 
of the body. 

13. There is no man, unaided by Inspiration, who can 
see or understand this connection. First, and greatest, and 
most difficult, the spirit must be understood. 

14. Kot only in relation to the body in which it exists, 
but in its immediate connection with God its Creator. 

15. Thou must in humility seek God ; for, remember, all 
the spirits of his children are connected with him, and 
for thee to thrust thyself between them rudely, is certainly 
presuming. 

16. Ask of Him help. If thou hast obtained this aid, 
disease must fly before thee, as chaff before the wind. 

IT. Disease is simply unharmonious action or passion. 

18. To remove this thou must of necessity be in harmony 
with God, and through him with the elements surrounding 
thee and the sick. 

19. Thou must be also in an harmonious state with the 
spirit of the sufferer. This can only be obtained by a sym- 
pathizing spirit. 

20. Eemember thou canst not deceive the wary spirit, 
especially when by excessive pain the body hath been 
weakened. 

21. Thy spiritual vision must be opened by God, the 
Great Physician, and all things in connection with the dis- 
eased body will be plain. 

22. Body can not see spirit, neither can mind ; but spirit 
can see the mind, and also make the body clear and trans- 
parent. 

23. It is very necessary that thou shouldst have an har- 
monious spirit, for without it thou art thyself diseased in 
thy most vital part ; and if, by accident, thou didst cure, 



248 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

the cure would be little, if any, better than the dis- 
ease. 

24. For perfect health, the spirit must be harmoniously 
connected with God, and in his sweet communion receive 
nourishing food — sending down through the mind the joys 
of perfect peace, reveal itself in form of vigorous manhood 
in the outer body. 

25. With those in harmony with God's great Spirit, yet 
within the outer body the inheritance obstructs the spirit- 
ual power, all disease can be by the Inspired Physician 
removed by the simple touch. 

26. He with his powerful harmony removes the obstruc- 
tion by simply stimulating the spiritual power of the sick. 

27. Surely God can not ever be diseased, and his perfect 
health must impart strength unto the poor spirit who hath 
to live in a diseased body, which disease is an unharnio- 
nious infringement of his perfect laws. 

28. "Where the flesh predominates, the mind sways to 
the animal passions, disease must not only be more com- 
mon, but harder to cure or remove. 

29. More common, because this very preponderance of 
flesh is a disease in affinity with all diseases. It being 
intended by God that spirit should rule in the body, any 
deviation from this intention must in reality be returning 
from him to earth — from life to death. 

30. Harder to remove must the diseases of such be, sim- 
ply because this animal preponderance must be broken 
down ere a cure can be effected. 

31. Until the abundant weight of flesh be removed or 
rendered perfectly passive, the spirit within the body can 
not act, and no cure or removal obtained. 

32. This fact hath builded a systematized Druggery 
which drugs not only the animal into passiveness, but 
upon the spiritually-minded heaps loads that indeed it- 
requires a strong spirit to remove. 

33. Through passiveness of the animal nature all cures 
must be made. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 249 

34. This passiveness is obtained by each different School 
in as many different ways ; and as often by the unschooled 
in as many more ways and by as numerous means. 

35. Surely the body must be a poor physician. The 
spirit is the intelligent controller of Life in the body, and 
must know best how to manage all the diseases flesh can 
be trammeled with. 

36. Did Physicians study the spirit more, and bones and 
muscles less, there would be more good physicians and 
less afflictions through their ignorance as well as through 
the ignorance of those who sustain them. 

37. It is a noble and Godlike calling. 

38. Oh, Physician, thou art indeed in a responsible 
position ! At times life and death are in thy hands. Thou 
art made the judge to say whether time to thy patient is 
done. 

39. Ponder well ere thou dost accept this great and good 
station. 

40. Great, because good, and good because thou dost 
imitate thy Father in Heaven. 

41. If thou dost enter its walks — the path of great use- 
fulness unto thy kind — fear to depart from God. Oh ! 
seek him first, for indeed he is first 'in all things, and surely 
God over life and death. 

42. All study is second unto His favor, for without his 
favor what can all study avail ? 

43. Before thee He will open the Book of Knowledge, 
and thou wilt therein learn the cause of life, disease, and 
death ; which book hath never taught on Earth, and with- 
out God's aid, never can teach. 

44. Thou wilt look therein at the beginning, the middle, 
and the ending, and canst not draw erroneous conclusions, 
for truth sustains, explains, and teaches unto thee. 

45. Oh, how necessary unto thee is this knowledge ! 
Thou shouldst know the cause of life, its course, its length 
and termination. Thou shouldst know all in connection 
with man, and in knowing this thou wouldst see within 



250 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

thyself powers of healing all flesh, which, with true knowl- 
edge applied, would immediately accomplish its end. 

46. Thou canst not without Physical means, if unaided 
by God's power, obtain the desired passiveness of flesh. 
If perfectly under his control, thou canst never fail, for his 
wisdom will never guide thee into channels in which fail- 
ure is sure to come. 

47. That which thou dost undertake will be encompassed, 
as it were, by His wisdom, and He knoweth the ending 
from the beginning. 

48. This thou canst learn also, and tell at a glance 
whether life can be sustained, or whether death must 
ensue. 

49. Thou canst measure instantly the spirit's strength 
and body's weakness, and draw correct conclusions. 

50. Thou must have an enlarged spiritual vision to accom- 
plish this much-desired end. 

51. Call thou first upon God, for without him thou art 
but a poor, diseased child thyself, and can not obtain the 
clearsightedness necessary unto the true Physician. 

52. Upon the couch of sickness the poor sufferer lieth. 
Thou dost enter his room, and station thyself by his side. 

53. Pain hath almost removed the spirit's hold upon the 
body, and dissolution seemeth unto others inevitable. 

54. Thou dost see the struggling spirit opposing the 
onward march of disease, and when the fl^sh seems over- 
come with the fierce contest, the desired passiveness hath 
arrived. Thy hand is placed upon the throbbing brow. 
Sleep, not of death, but in which cometh new life, visits 
the suffering one, and when it passes off, thy stimulating 
help hath overcome and quelled the disease. 

55. Of what avail were drugs ? The load was already 
too heavy, and why add unto it ? 

56. One thoughtless or thoughtful dose had but hurried 
the spirit into eternity. The body was weak with disease ; 
the spirit must be strengthened by harmonious sympathy, 
or remove from the body forever. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 251 

57. "Where disease hath produced the desired passive- 
ness, all medicines are an injury, for they are only such 
amount of load for the spirit to overcome. 

58. There can be no affinity between lifeless matter and 
spirit. • 

59. The one directly from God's spirit produced, the 
other directly by him- from earth produced. 

60. Earthly food can not nourish spirit, neither can 
drugs composed of the earth help the spirit in operation, 
save as hath been stated in those cases wherein the animal 
organization greatly predominates. And herein they in 
reality break down the living powers of the flesh by giving 
it an overload of death, contained in the drugs, to be scat- 
tered over the system already diseased. 

61. They being lifeless and void of spirit, must act upftn 
the man as the worst form of disease, so far as the body 
alone is concerned. 

62. Take away the Physician's confidence in his drugs, 
in whatever form used, and they are perfectly useless in 
curing, and worse than useless unto the one in which they 
are used. 

63. A physician, with a firm reliance upon his own 
powers, is always most successful with the same drugs, 
instruments, or whatever he may use, simply because he 
obtains instantly the confidence of the one diseased. 

64. An uncertain physician will have his patients die 
whilst he wavers between two opinions, when, had he 
perfect confidence in either opinion, a cure would be 
certain. 

65. There is but one true system of Healing ; this is that 
in which Love obtains passiveness, and through which 
passiveness, spirit assists spirit to throw off the unharmo- 
nious action of the being, either spiritual or physical. 

66. Man is more diseased than any other animal forma- 
tion God hath ever created, merely because he has power 
to and does infringe upon the harmonious arrangements of 
his own nature. 



252 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

67. All infringements upon spiritual freedom is the worst 
form disease can take, because its powers govern and regu- 
late the whole of the mind's actions, and the body's habits 
and propensities. 

68. The Agent to remove Spiritual disease is certainly 
God's Love. 

69. Spirit being independent of earth, save in its imme- 
diate connection with man, can have no affinity with the 
matter composing the earth. 

70. Its sustenance must come directly from God, and 
hence can never be diseased, because he giveth perfect 
food. 

71. Error and ignorance assume the form of disease, but 
they arise not from God's food, but from the spirit ignorant 
o$ erring, not partaking of the food as given. 

72. Surely the physician is not to blame if the patient do 
not take his medicine as directed. 

73. A willful reliance upon self hath made man diseased. 

74. Attempting to take his destiny from God's hands, 
and for himself out of earth create happiness, he hath in 
reality severed in this act his connection with the highest 
enjoyment and purest freedom — a dependence upon God. 

75. And as he wandered over the earth seeking for lost 
enjoyment, striving to take from earth what was never by 
God given unto it — pleasure for man's spirit — to obtain its 
highest "pleasure, he ate his richest fruits, and drank its 
sweetest honey, yet he returned diseased, broken down, 
helpless. 

76. Avoiding health he started in transgression, and dis- 
eased would fain return to begin again in a better path. 

77. Forsaking God is man's first most vital transgression. 

78. This is not only a spiritual truth, but through the 
spiritual channel a physical truth, and one Physicians 
must understand ere they attempt to heal. 

79. First, be certain thou art whole ere thou dost attempt 
to make others so. 

80. Diseased premises can not give a sound conclusion. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 253 

81. Sickness of flesh is not the commencement of disease. 
It is but an effect of transgression, which transgression, of 
whatever form or character, makes at last its center by 
entering the transgression of God's law through which pure 
love floweth unto the spirit. 

82. Physicians spend their powers upon the effect, in- 
stead of commencing at the proper cause. Effect may 
change the nature of effect by addition, but there are two 
effects in the system instead of one health. 

83. Change of disease is no cure, and yet many great 
fames and great names have been builded upon this change. 

84. Their monuments are builded upon a changing foun- 
dation, and must by time be changed until forgotten in the 
famous ocean of eternity. 

85. Faith in God would remove disease from the lot of 
man. 

86. He would see in the bounteous love of his Father all 
that spirit could enjoy, and would nourish his earthly body 
with the simplest healthiest food he could find. 

87. The enjoyments of animal disease would be left be- 
hind, and he would only live to enjoy perfect health. 

88. Physician, do thy duty. The removing of disease 
can only be accomplished by understanding correctly the 
cause of all diseases, and this understanding can only be 
given by God 

89. Thou must show the preventive of disease as God 
showeth it unto thee, else his showing will certainly cease. 
He is just, and giveth unto none more than others equally 
deserving of trust. 

90. Thy vision must by His aid be so refined as to pierce 
instantly all flesh. Thou must borrow, as it were, His un- 
limited vision, and as He view His children. 

91. With Him in His unlimited knowledge there can be 
no mysteries, and nothing mysterious, and unto thee there 
is more or less mystery in the human form as thou dost 
approach or recede from Him. 

92. It should always be open unto thee, and transparent 



254: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

as air. Is this impossible ? If thou thinkest so, so long 
as thou thinkest, it is, but thou art measuring with thy 
own measure, and not as thou wouldst with the aid of 
God. 

93. How very little man knoweth of himself ! and the 
deeply-schooled Physician is often most ignorant of his 
own intimate connection with an all-wise Creator. 

94. Is not spirit the controlling power of man ? It is 
connected with every portion of the man. It is the Intel- 
ligent principle through and by which man discerns that 
which he understands. 

95. Then can not spirit in affinity with, and having the 
confidence of, the spirit of the suffering man, see instantly 
through this intelligent controlling principle the disease 
and the cause of the disease ? Surely, man, the mysteries 
of thy being are not so mysterious as ignorance would 
represent. 

96. The sick man knows his feelings much better than 
he can explain them to his blind physician ; and though 
perhaps the physician could cure did he know correctly 
the disease, the chances are fearfully against his knowing 
them from the- imperfect description of the symptoms. 

97. Whereas could the Physician see for himself — and 
he can if faithful unto God — the disease correctly, its cause 
and its present stage of progression, no words or signs 
could mislead him, and no ignorance thwart him from 
curing. 

98. The compass and power of the outside human eye 
have been measured, discussed, and settled upon as under- 
stood. This is in an exclusively outward sense. The out- 
ward man looks outward, and with outward instruments 
can measure the range of his vision. 

99. The eye is used, but what is it that sees ? 

100. By the wild movements of the madman, his writhing 
and leaping where untouched by all outward things, his 
starts and stops, reaching and falling, it is plainly visible 
to the sane man that unto his vision there come the shapes 



THE HEALING OF TfiE NATIONS. 200 

and figures of most fearful objects. Yet the eye is sound, 
save the suffering produced by affinity of parts. 

101. Then it is not the outward eye that sees. No ; the 
eye visible is but. the machine of the eye invisible, and by 
the intelligent spirit used to bring before its vision the 
outward things of nature. 

102. The invisible eye of man, that which unto spirit 
reveals scenery more gorgeous than words can describe, 
and the operations of laws more perfect than flesh can con- 
ceive, is the true and ever living organ of sight. 

103. This organ, though entirely invisible to the outer 
eye, is connected with, and seated in, every human being. 

104. Physicians can not see it, yet through and by it 
must see, or forever be blind as to the invisible cause and 
stages of disease. 

105. Unto the spiritual eye flesh is transparent ; the eye 
being the focal point of the sense of sight, in immediate 
connection with the whole system which spirit permeates, 
must be instantly able to penetrate any portion of the 
system, or to take in the whole system at a glance. 

106. The outward eye is used exclusively to view out- 
ward objects, thus bringing the inward, spiritual eye in 
contact with the objects desired. 

107. The spiritual eye sees most clearly when the outer 
vision is perfectly under its control, but can see without 
the use of the outer eye at all. This is well known unto 
all physicians. 

108. Physicians stop here, making no application of this 
valuable inward or spiritual sight. 

109. To see or know correctly the cause, or seat, or pro- 
gressive stage of disease, this inward sight must be used ; 
and as it attains perfection, so can the physician see suc- 
cessfully the much to be desired object. 

110. Surely he must use this sight to a certain extent to 
locate disease from uncertainly described symptoms, and 
with earnest, sincere desire could certainly cultivate the 
sight. 



256 THE HEALING OF TnE NATIONS. 

111. The controller- of all is God. 

112. From Him branch off rays of intelligence pene- 
trating space, pervading the spirit of man, and giving 
unto every thing all it knoweth or can know. 

113. At the fountain all the effects are visible. God 
peereth down through the rays of his own intelligence, 
and knoweth instantly all things. 

114. To open thy inner spiritual vision, oh, physician, 
go thou to the fountain, and humbly ask permission to 
drink thereat. 

115. Thou wilt not go hungering away, but will leave 
thy Father with knowledge man can never teach. 

116. He will bestow upon thee powers that are unto 
ignorant man most miraculous, yet unto thee most plain. 

117. What is plainer than that God, the creator of all, 
must know all perfectly ? and if he knoweth, will he not 
give unto thee if deserving ? Oh ! measure not God's 
bounty in thy own selfish measure. 

118. Is not pure intelligence greater than ignorance ? 
Life greater than death? Oh, then, if thou wouldst know 
how to nourish life, seek first thy Father in Heaven, and 
of him learn first how very ignorant thou art. 

119. Books upon bones, upon muscles, upon blood, upon 
nerves in their various forms and combinations, are piled 
high upon the physician's shelves ; but where are they 
that illustrate clearly the connection between the spiritual 
controlling power and these parts of the machine it 
controls ? 

120. The beginning is entirely deserted, and conse- 
quently the desired end never obtained. 

121. Let the first question in Medical books be, What is 
spirit? the second, What is its proper connection with its 
Creator? the third, What its connection with the animal 
life of man? 

122. And let these, answered correctly, be the founda- 
tion of the system, and disease will be removed from the 
inheritance of man. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 257 

123. Think not, oh, timid Physician, that thy occupation 
would cease ! Instead of curing disease, thou wouldst 
teach correctly all the ennobling parts of thy mission. 

121. Man, under thy Inspired instructions, would walk 
the earth as a God. 

125. In form perfect, in mind and spirit the Image of 
his Father in Heaven. 

126. Reproduction would be understood. Thou wouldst 
unto the mothers of God's children reveal laws that would 
make their loved babes pure and perfect as angels in 
Heaven. 

127. Oh, what a noble mission ! To bring back the halt, 
the lame, the erring — all, all of God's children who are 
afflicted by the diseases of error's producing — to bring 
these sufferers all back to their Father's house well, happy, 
and rejoicing! 

128. Surely an Angel's hand could not do a nobler deed, 
and an angel's crown of rejoicing could not be purer than 
that which will crown thy brow, oh, physician of God's 
choosing, if thou unto him art faithful ! 

129. It is surely more noble to give health than to re- 
move disease — more noble to prevent than to cure — and 
this is the physician's greatest privilege, to tell unto man 
that which shall make him avoid disease, which through 
ignorance he would otherwise suffer. 

130. An understanding of the outward machinery of 
man is of great importance unto the uninspired physician. 
This hath led him into the error of forsaking that which 
controls the machine. 

131. He has been so astonished at results, that the sim- 
plicity of causes has passed unnoticed. 

132. Instead of looking at the seed, the germ, or the 
root, he hath looked at the full-grown tree, and attempted 
to grasp therefrom the fruits that were beyond his short- 
ened arm. 

133. Whilst engaged in counting the numerous bones, 
and in naming the numerous muscles, arteries, and the 

17 



25S 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



connection of them with one another, and showing how 
they compose the frame, bands, and axles of the machine, 
behold, he forgets the motive power, and when the ma- 
chine is put in motion can not fathom the cause of its 
moving ! 

134. And is this incomprehensible merely because the 
machine part of thy own eye can not see it? Use thy 
spiritual vision, and in connection with man there is noth- 
ing thou canst not know. 

135. God never intended thee to be incomprehensible 
unto thyself. Surely the Creator of wisdom can not take 
pleasure in listening to the hum of a machine — especially 
when that machine makes only a distortion of a loved 
child that should be a comprehender of the supreme wis- 
dom in which he was created. 

136. Profess to regulate man, and know not how and 
why he hath motion ! Heal flesh at the expense of 
spirit ! Trample heedlessly under foot God's greatest pro- 
duction ! 

137. Physician, if thou art so ignorant, learn ere thou 
dost attempt to stand between God and his child. 

138. God loveth thee, and would fain make thee an in- 
strument to remove from flesh the burden of his children 
therein. 

139. There is that in store for thee even on earth, if 
faithful, of which thou canst not conceive. 

140. There is but very little known of the true science 
of healing. Drugs are looked upon as necessary. If this 
be the case, why were they not allotted a separate apart- 
ment in thy Individuality ? Why not desire them as food 
and drink ? Why not be tortured to death unless in health 
thou hast them ? 

141. True knowledge will sweep drugs into the earth 
whence they came. They are necessary unto the harmony 
of creation, else had they never been created ; yet being 
created does not impose upon man the duty to eat or drink 
them instead of wholesome food. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 259 

142. Man, if a Physician visits thee, ask him to tell thee 
what the life is he would save. If he know not, tell him 
to depart, and put thyself in God's hands. 

143. A good sympathizing nurse is man's best phy- 
sician. 

144. The doctor may drug and drench, but in so doing 
can never cure. There is no affinity between life and 
death ; they are opposites, and unto opposites are con- 
stantly striving to return. 

145. If mankind were fully sensible that change of dis- 
ease is no cure, the number of those called physicians 
would instantly diminish. 

146. A temporary excitement may bring relief to the 
animal feelings for a season, but a strained exertion bring- 
eth in its very nature a consequent depression. 

147. At the point where visibility and invisibility to the 
outer senses unite, the healing art hath always stopped. 
Leaving all the inner beauties of man unnoticed, because 
invisible to senses intended to be exclusively outward, 
the art hath become a practical and disagreeable occu- 
pation. 

148. Thousands upon thousands study medicine, and 
having learned that which their masters know, and per- 
haps have known for ages, commence their game of life or 
death with a Diploma in one hand, " Medicine" in the 
other, and in the head all the various bones, muscles, 
nerves, and diseases man is heir to imaged promiscuously ! 

149. Thus equipped they are ready for action. 

150. A Patient enters, serves his complaint. A wise 
look, sonorous cough, rubbing of hands, and slowly taking 
down of the bottle, would lead one uninitiated into the 
belief that he was acting more from habit than from a pre- 
cise knowledge of what he was doing. 

151. Something must be done ; the man is in pain and 
must be relieved ; and he is determined the physician's 
drug, and not his own natural powers, shall do it. 

152. The complacent Physician doses him by rule, and 



260 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS, 



he departs in anticipation of being cured ere long. Could 
he hear nature's voice perhaps she would say, " I could 
have cured you sooner and easier without having had 
poison added to that which I must remove. 1 ' 

153. If the dose or disease be too large, perhaps the 
patient dies ; but in either case, " the physician hath done 
all ' medicine' could do," and all is well ! Yet if a man 
get well, "it is almost a miraculous cure ;'" and surely it 
is if he hath not thrown his " medicine" all away as soon 
as the physician left him ! 

154. Surely God created man for higher and holier pur- 
poses. 

155. Why endow him with such exalted powers of con- 
ception, if he be but a mere tool unto the caprice of his 
ignorant and selfish animal nature ? 

156. Why give the high and pure spiritual communion 
with one another, and above all gifts the communion with 
his Maker, if he be but an animal whose end is in earthly 
dust? 

157. Oh, Physician ! thou canst not deceive Supreme 
Wisdom ; and if thou canst deceive man, and on earth reap 
the reward of thy deception, thou wilt in a future life reap 
also thy just dues. 

158. Man groans in bondage! Error hath filled his flesh 
with corruption. Disease mars his earthly life, and retards 
him in his future career. 

159. Physician, behold thy work ! God requireth naught 
thou canst not perform. Who, save him, can know what 
thou with his aid canst perform ? 

160. Oh, reject not God's favor ! The faithful only are 
worthy, the faithful alone are chosen as executors of his 
will on earth. The faithful only are permitted to enter 
his own holy presence to enjoy unbounded freedom and 
love throughout an endless eternity. 

161. Thou canst not serve God without serving man also. 
Thou art one of his family, and only exalted as thou art a 
good, loving, and faithful child. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 261 

162. Oh, how noble ! how Godlike to heal ! God heal- 
eth all with his abounding love and mercy, and to imitate 
hirr^ is indeed Godlike. 

163. Physician, man may in ignorance mock thy wisdom, 
yet if his mocking affect thee thou art most unwise, and 
must learn more ere thou teachest. 

164:. Is not God's favor sufficient unto thy need ? If 
not, who can satisfy thee ? 

165. Seek higher. There are purer, holier truths beyond, 
and still beyond, beckoning thee on to regions of eternal 
day. 

166. In God's pure Light there are no mysteries ; all is 
clear and transparent, for none enter his presence who wish 
to pervert the light. Oh, seek this pure and holy gift, 
and before thy astonished vision will open the Book of 
Light and Love, and behold thou dost see before thee the 
cause and controlling power of all Life ! 

167. This is thy starting point ; enter thy name in God's 
book first, and thou wilt never fail. 

168. Physician, seek God, and all with thee will be 
well ; yea, " good," as is all the product of His own holy 
wisdom in which thou wilt be taught the beginning and 
ending. 

169. Think not that because He is seldom if ever men- 
tioned in the books of the dead, thou hast studied that 
He is afar off, and only to be reached by a choice few 
on earth ! God is near thee, around, and in thee, knoweth 
thy every thought and action ; oh, listen to his loving 
voice ! 

170. Love, thou knowest not in purity, and can not 
measure the forgiving kindness and sustaining help of an 
all- wise Parent until thou dost in humility seek him within 
thyself. 

171. Therein He is always manifest. Listen and learn 
of His own holy voice the mysteries of thy being, and 
firmly, fearlessly, impart thy knowledge unto man. 

172. Thus wilt thou be his own appointed Physician to 



262 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS 



pluck from his garden the rank weeds of disease, and trim 
and nourish the tender, lovely plants. 

173. Thus wilt thou become one of earth's true orna- 
ments, one true, upright man, the noblest of God's good 
handiwork. Thus be thou an ornament to earth, a bright 
and shining star in the eternal Heavens. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

1. In the old and easy chair sits an aged man. 

2. His straggling hair is white as snow : surely he rep- 
resents the winter of man in his covering ; but that brow, 
so deeply lined — those eyes, that study has dimmed — and 
that mouth, whose firmness hath mingled its peaceful smile 
with the serene fixedness of the old man's face, do not 
seem like winter. They seem to have beaten back the 
chilling frosts of age, and settled into an emblem of eter- 
nal, aged childhood. 

3. Around the Inspired Philosopher are strewn manu- 
scripts whose trembling lines and figures show well they are 
the product of his own hand. 

• 4. Along the numerous shelves are arranged in perfect 
order the names and works of those unto whom time hath 
promised Immortality. 

5. Instruments for measuring the heavens and the earth ; 
the solids, liquids, and various combinations thereof; in 
short, all that Philosopher can use, from the greatest to the 
simplest, is in that extensive Library. 

6. And there sits the old Man in his earthly heaven 
musing, absorbed in deep meditation. That mighty mind 
is striving to solve a problem. 

7. "Love one another," upon the page before him, hath 
set in motion all his being. 

8. A mother holds him on her knee, and imparts unto 
his eager mind instruction. She opens the door of futurity 
before him ; shows him snares and pitfalls in the track man 
is wont to tread ; shows him how to avoid their dangerous 
errors, by seeking true knowledge. 



264 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS, 



9. And as his face turns upward, the expression reveals 
the pure thankfulness of his spirit for a good and loving 
Mother who watched so faithfully over his tender years. 

10. Now he is bringing forth chemical affinities. Their 
inanimate congeniality showeth harmony to be firmly fixed 
in their existence. 

11. The Heavens, and the numerous hosts therein, are 
viewed as so many demonstrations of perfect harmony. 

12. The Seasons, as they continually roll time into eter- 
nity, life into death, and death into new-born life, show 
him, in their effects, that they are but a part of one harmo- 
nious whole. 

13. Figures, in their simplest addition, or in their grand- 
est and sublimest combinations, can not be made truthfully 
to trespass upon the sacred ground — Harmony. 

14. The mysterious Circle and Triangle, whence its 
center cometh, show him that man is still ignorant of all 
the most refined elementary principles of all things. 

15. The mind returns, falls again upon the sentence, 
" Love one another," and he exclaims, " It is the founda- 
tion of the universe ! Oh, Philosophers, how little have 
ye known ! Ye begin, mid-air, to build, and can never 
rise above the air you build in ! This is true philosophy, 
founded by God after his own pure mind — the illustration 
of his own holy will, manifest in all the creation — the voice 
of Eternal Harmony, ' Love one another !' " 

16. He hath in long-gone years searched through the 
depths and heights of man's lore, and returned to his chair 
to dwell within his own silent communion. His aged mind 
is fresh as youth. Children love him. Men almost wor- 
ship his great intellect, but, unheeding all, he keeps his 
eye firmly fixed upon the future home wherein he hopes 
soon to enter. 

17. Daily* communion with his all-wise Creator hath 
opened unto his astonished gaze new and mighty truths. 
Simple and good, all things emanating from God's hand 
are seen by him. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 265 

18. The mysteries of philosophy unto him are simple. 
Where others have ended and pronounced all beyond 
unattainable, by a trusting, depending spirit upon God, he 
hath viewed all, and more than they could imagine, be- 
yond the reach of man. 

19. He hath reduced and re-reduced, until cause after 
cause was seen to be but an effect of a still simpler cause. 

20. Onward and inward hath he traced, until the points 
of the Triangle are distinctly seen, whence the center of all 
things is found. 

21. He seeth the fountains of Divine Intelligence, of 
Pure Love, and Eternal Truth, all flowing downward and 
outward unto the uttermost extent of the universe, and 
within he knoweth exists their central cause, whose Al- 
mighty power the pure fountains reveal. 

22. He traceth the waters unto the chaotic shore — seeth 
them return, ebbing and flowing in a continual circuit of 
eternal duration. 

23. Behold the mystery of the Triangle and the Circle. 

24. He separates Life and death, Light and darkness, 
Love and hatred, Truth and error ; by this all-powerful 
combination of wisdom. 

25. He understands why man hath never fathomed the 
truths of the perfect Circle. He knows that effect can not 
understand cause, and herein seeth the difficulty. 

26. Three is the mystic number, of which one is the 
center. 

.27. This one is Eternal, even Jehovah. The three great 
attributes pervading all things — Love, Light, and Truth. 
They blend, illustrate, and prove all things ; combine, 
distinguish, and show Individuality to be the lot and inher- 
itance of all. 

28. They are the circumference of all, as God the Crea- 
tor is the center. They are, as it were, the body of Jeho- 
vah, whilst the spirit within is the eternal essence of all 
purity. 

29. Without the operation of these great attributes, our 



266 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

Father would be childless in space. They exist and ever 
operate as God's helpmeets. Give joy unto his holy 
spirit, and unto the smallest animalcule he hath created, 
give also its fullest comprehension of happiness ! 

30. Oh ! how sublimely simple, yet how vastly grand 
and great art thou, God ! What words express thee 
unto man ? Who, save thee, oh ! Father, can sufficiently 
do thy will to enhance thy glory on earth ? Oh ! may thy 
will ever be done. 

31. Philosopher, who, save God, can limit thy mission ? 
Who or what, save his favor, fill it ? Philosophy is all 
that man can ever comprehend. 

32. The sum of all intelligence man can understand — the 
name of all parts in one — a grand whole of earthly knowl- 
edge, subdivided into branches, seed, and fruit. 

33. Oh, man ! think not that branches, or fruit, or partic- 
ular seed can give thee the name of Philosopher. Thou 
must understand the root and cause of all, know whence 
all cometh, and whither it returns, lest thou wilt merit but 
part of this great name. 

34. Men may confer titles upon thee, but these do not 
increase or give knowledge, as thou must know from the 
numerous titled examples among men. 

35. Knowledge, to be great, must be simple. A truth 
plain in itself should never be named in such obscure lan- 
guage as to become a mystery to those termed unlearned. 

36. Keveal thy truths simply, remembering that, though 
thou mayest have discovered them, they are part and par- 
cel of God's eternal attribute. 

37. Had God not made truths plain and simple, how 
could man have ever discovered them with his limited per- 
ception ? If he were not so selfish as to be proud of his 
little discoveries, greater ones would bless his efforts. 

38. Truth being simple, man must be simple-minded and 
honest enough to give as he receives, before he can discover 
the most valuable truths unto him. 

39. By truthful simplicity of character he enters the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 267 

affinity of simple truths, and is far more apt to uncover 
them, as it were, than those whom science hath elated. 

40. Understand this to mean causing truths, and not 
their resultant effects upon which so many Philosophical 
monuments have been builded. 

41. Monuments of time — atoms of a day ! are unworthy 
of the occupations of the true Philosopher. 

42. He should build as God buildeth — for eternity. Out 
of the fundamental truths of God should he shape his 
knowledge, and in simplicity reveal the conclusions of his 
arduous study, making all to illustrate God's love for his 
benighted children. 

43. The discovery of truths gives far more pleasure than 
the learning of error. 

44. "Within the spirit of Man truth is ever a welcome 
visitant. Error may please, by its flattery, for a season, the 
passions of men ; but 'tis a short-lived thing, and the more 
known the more it is dreaded. 

45. The Philosopher should combine within his knowl- 
edge all the different forms of Theoretical knowledge. He 
should also understand the physical or mechanical effects 
and demonstrations of this knowledge as relating to man 
and nature. 

46. The Philosophic Chemist reaps knowledge, as it were, 
by dissecting nature. He traces after essences, divides 
bodies, combines, separates, and distinguishes their differ- 
ent qualities. 

47. He should show unto man that the divisibility of 
matter is a demonstration of God's extensive power over 
all the atoms of the universe. By the subtile essences in 
which matter is inconceivable, he should show the imagi- 
native purity of those essences which the great Creator 
must have used to produce the effects among which he 
labors. 

48. He should not spend his valuable time in endless de- 
scriptions of intricate machinery for dividing and subdivid- 
ing the arrangements of nature, but upon the harmonious 



268 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

blending of essences with matter, and their strong proof of 
one pare and powerful, combining and cementing, all sur- 
rounding Love to be existing everywhere. 

49. What matter if man do not know the component 
parts of Light, if the knowledge be not applied for the glory 
of God ! What matter how air is composed, if in the 
knowledge no good is produced ! With God there is no 
such thing as unapplied knowledge, or useless knowledge. 

50. His knowledge is all useful, as is proven by nature, 
His great illustrator. 

51. Water is no more sweet or refreshing, or represented 
by no more beauties, from knowing its component parts, 
unless this knowledge be applied as proof of the insepara- 
ble connection of all things with one another, and with 
God. 

52. It enhances the value of the cool draught to know 
that it is supplied by the love of an ever-living Parent. 

53. The thirsty traveler does not stop to ask how it is 
made, or of what composed ; for he knows from his thirst 
that it alone was made to quench the drought of nature. 

54. The air he breathes in the cooling shade around the 
spring is inhaled freely, unmindful of its name or nature ; 
he feels its power in his blood ; feels it being condensed 
into strength ; feels it removing fatigue, all unknowing as 
to its scientific weight or elasticity,, 

55. As the setting sun meets his eye, and he glances o'er 
the lovely landscape through which he is treading, he 
needs no study to say that Light is lovely, and a pure 
revealer of the living beauties God hath given unto man 
most bountifully. 

56. As upon his tired way night falls, and upon his bed 
his head is pillowed, his sweet sense of earned rest now 
enjoyed showeth him that darkness in its place is good as 
light, or aught else unto man on earth given. 

57. Behold how God applieth his knowledge. 

58. Chemist, if thou canst simplify by separating, show 
how different effects are results of the same cause ; show 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 269 

that all center toward the holy fountains,' love, light, and 
truth; then, indeed, canst thou glorify God and thyself 
thereby. 

59. Then, indeed, thou art worthy of being His child ; 
then thou art worthy of thy portion of the great name, 
Philosopher. 

60. Whereas, if thou dost become a product of retorts, 
acids, essences, and matters in general unto thy trade per- 
taining, thou art as thy component parts — of earth, earthy. 

61. Earth may love thee in selfish love, but Heaven nor 
the spirit of man ever w T ill. There is no affinity between 
you. Thou dost repel all the softening light and love, 
essences of the truths thou dost dissect, by thy selfish 
usurpation of their own just credit, and they in return repel 
thy selfishness. 

62. Surely if thou art not in affinity with these great, all- 
pervading attributes of Jehovah, thou must expect to not 
be united with by them. 

63. And if thou cLost insert a neutralizing substance in 
your midst, take care thou art not used to cleanse the earth 
from the hands of thy more virtuous brethren. 

64. Be thou clean before God. Strive to glorify him, 
and thou wilt be assisted by his own hand. Does this seem 
strange ? Prove it by thy chemical affinities. It is within 
the range of thy mission. 

65. Dense affinities are but results of affinities more rare. 
If thou dost ascend to the sublime purity of the living spirit 
of man, thou wilt see that it hath in its nature an affinity 
for that which is still purer and forever more refined ; and 
what, oh, Chemist, can be more refined than man forever, 
save God, his creating Father ? 

66. Thou canst show by thy skillful combinations that 
simplicity ever increases as thou dost center in toward 
God ; and from this constantly-increasing simplicity of 
elementary truths what powerful evidence thou canst bring 
that there is but one great Truth within the center of all 
things, which is God, 



270 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

67. Prove unto man that thou hast fathomed all thou 
couldst of thy adopted science, and thou hast returned an 
humbled child prepared to acknowledge thankfully that 
thy Father in Heaven is good and loving beyond thy 
limited conception. 

68. Prove to them, thy brethren, that cause hath evaded 
and escaped thee, until at last thou didst leave the retort, 
feeling that such search could only be crowned with suc- 
cess by Cause Himself. 

69. Do thou stand up before God, prepared to show that 
thou hast not striven in vain with his productions. Show 
unto him that thou hast not wantonly meddled with his 
elements, but that proof after proof hast thou deduced 
therefrom of his holy and supreme Wisdom. 

70. Prove by a harmony of parts a resultant, harmoni- 
ous whole. 

71. Be thyself a proof of thy theories. Be composed of 
as many parts as thou wilt, but let them be under and 
subject to the control of thy spirit, and it in turn under the 
control of Deity. 

72. Be God's in desire, and he will be thine in fulfill- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

1. The Philosophic Botanist hath a field of labor which 
is indeed lovely, and calculated to elevate all who enter 
therein. 

2. What beauties surround him ! The air he breathes 
is fresh and pure from the bedewed surfaces of myriad 
lovely and sweet-scented flowers. 

3. Gardens, fields, mountains, glens, and the green, shady 
depths of the majestic forest are searched o'er and well 
scanned for the obtaining of those gems with which God 
hath so liberally decked the earth. 

4. A lovely Maiden treads lightly o'er the dewy mead- 
ows with her basket, gayly singing unto the quiet morn- 
ing. 

5. As she wanders o'er its scented grass, plucking ever 
and anon fresh-budding beauties, the startled sky-lark 
leaves his resting bed, and upward wings his way. Her 
song ceases, for from the throat of the happy bird is 
streaming a wild, unmeasured strain of music, surpassing 
her wildest imaginings. 

6. Upward he rises, and purer seems his song. She 
listens her spirit away unto the unknown land where flow- 
ers never wither, and birds, ever unmolested, sing their 
fullest joy. * 

7. Again she gathers flowers — again in happiness sings. 

8. The King of Day arises, turns toward her his smiling 
face, seeming to say, "Love the beautiful on earth, that 
thou may est appreciate its perfection in Heaven." 

9. Here and there she wanders, gathering ever new 
beauties. 



272 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

10. The last seemeth always most beautiful, for, alas ! 
as soon as plucked from its parent stem, each tender little 
bud and blossom seems to lose its joyous smile and settle 
down, closing its leaves in melancholy anticipation of 
coming death. 

11. She feels for them, and regrets that they must be 
killed ere they be dissected to bring out their inner 
beauties. These inner beauties have spoken to her spirit, 
and she returns with her basket filled with flowers, but her 
spirit filled with sorrow from contemplating the great 
difference between God's life and man's death. 

12. She sees the Great Creator's works full of life and 
sweetness, inviting all unto their feast of pure enjoyment. 
She sees the rude hand of man sweeping these beautiful 
evidences of his love into an untimely grave. 

13. She would have all study flowers in the bright 
morning, ere the thirsty sun had drank up all their delicious 
drops. She would have them to view, as she hath done 
the greeting of the Sun, as bud after bud opens her beau- 
ties unto him, seeming to ask for a cup full of nourishing 
rays. 

14. She would have all view the glistening diamonds 
upon the blushing brow of the Eose, as the great Day-King 
smiles upon its modest beauty. 

15. The soft grass seemeth inviting her feet to tread it 
down, confident that one so innocent, so pure, can not hurt 
the tenderest of God's created plants, and as she wanders 
homeward, the glow of morning's health spreads o'er her 
cheek its enlivening glow. 

16. She dreads the separating and classing of the dead. 
She saw them in perfect life, and upon them light shed its 
richest hues, but now decay hath taken all from them, save 
name and the untombed remains of the dead. 

17. Sweet, even in death ; but the beautiful is gone to 
the bosom of light, whence it came, to return in that form 
no more forever. 

18. How different life and death, as viewed by her as 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 273 

she separates her decaying treasure and remembers their 
beautiful life, as upon the meadow's soft bosom they sang 
their happy song in nature's listening ear. 

19. Again she wanders forth in the bright morning, but, 
instead of the knife and basket, for the destroying and 
collecting of the beautiful flowers and plants she sees, she 
hath her brush, her pencil, and pen.- As she wanders 
about, every bud and blossom is penciled in nature's own 
colors, and by her pen explained unto all who may here- 
after view her life-like collection. 

20. She catches their joyous smile as unto the zephyr 
they bow with Nature's untutored grace. She gives their 
bright and shining luster as the light of new-born day sheds 
upon them the soft and genial rays. 

21. They are in their own natural colors and in their own 
useful qualities arranged and classified with such distinct 
and truthful lines, that all who view them instantly recog- 
nize some sweet face familiar unto their own eye in the 
long-gone childish rambles. 

22. Every leaf and stem, every bud and flower, are all 
fresh and pure as in nature's bower. 

23. She is nature's friend, and from her soft bosom the 
beautiful truths are in kindness given unto one, who ex- 
plaineth all as if she had in Heaven her knowledge gained. 

24. The maiden hath learned the secrets of Botany. She 
could not understand the dead, and she went forth in the 
dewy morning to learn from life what living beauties were. 
Returning, she knoweth all. Life, and light, and love 
have been viewed blending in the bud, the bush, and tree. 

25. She hath seen and transcribed, and in her own spirit 
transplanted that which Book never taught. 

26. Oh, Botanist ! if thou wouldst learn the beautiful 
and the true usefulness of beauty, rise with the Lark, and 
with his truthful eye seek for pure knowledge among 
nature's dewy fields. 

27. Think not that God hath covered the hills with their 
soft, green robe, or the meadows with their dark, flowing 

18 



274 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

grass, interspersed with pure Lilies, for naught but the 
eye of an unthinking gazer to look upon. 

28. Every spear or blade of grass hath its name and 
nature. Every bud hath its sweetness, and every flower, 
bush, or tree have their separate missions on earth, and do 
fulfill them. 

29. The beautiful harmony of nature manifests the inan- 
imate love of earth for the Source whence it came. 

30. Thou art above all things on earth, and these minis- 
ter unto thy spirit only through the outer channels. Thou 
must never lose sight of the Cause of these beauties thou 
dost seek to obtain knowledge of. 

31. They do thee great good if thou dost use them to 
give thee pleasure, for they can thus do thee no harm, 
being themselves harmless, and wherein is innocent beauty 
and loveliness, therein and therefrom must man obtain 
great good. 

32. Become familiar with the outward beautiful, and 
the inward beauties of thy spirit will expand more and 
still more rapidly. Cultivate a taste for that which can 
but elevate thee in the sight of God and man. 

33. Let thy labor be truthful, and thy reward will be 
beautiful as truth understood in purity. 

34. On earth develop thy perception of its glorious 
beauty, and in the essence shalt thou learn that which 
unto the truths known on earth is as light unto darkness, 
life unto death. 

35. The beautiful things thy mission opens unto thy view 
are, as it were, inclosed in death. The winter cometh, and 
the leafy shrubbery seemeth the lifeless sticks ; the sweet 
bush whereon the lovely flowers grew seemeth but a dull, 
dry thornbush. 

36. And yet in the winter is the seed tried, in the spring 
it is quickened, in the summer it groweth, and in the fall 
it is reaped, or again consigned into the arms of apparent 
death to again come forth in the now-born spring-time of 
life. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 275 

37. A continuous circle is life, born of time, consigned 
to eternity. Companion of man in the outward and in the 
eternal inward hath its central cause. 

38. Outer bodies attract his body, inner beauties attract 
his spirit, thus forever unto his child congenial are the 
works of an all-wise Parent. 

39. Botanist, thine is the mission " ever to please."' If 
thou art true unto thy God, thyself, and nature, thou must 
accomplish the end desired. 

40. Oh ! please thy kind. Show them the beautiful 
varieties of their Father's works, and thus cast a gentle 
reproof upon their dull routine of sameness termed life 
and its enjoyment. 

41. Teach man that as God hath varied the outward, so 
must the inward be varied. As the outer demonstration 
of power is beautiful, so must the inner cause be more 
refined in beauty. 

42. Teach that as God produced all things from nothing, 
the nearer his purity all things become, the more beautiful 
they must be. 

43. Show the Intelligence manifested by the flowers and 
vines thou dost trail ; show the course of all to be onward 
and upward toward the great and good Fountain whence 
they came. 

44. Let thy desires center in that which should be the 
desire of every one on earth, to glorify God by the eleva- 
tion of man. 

45. If, oh, man, thou hast an organization which unto 
the earth and its component parts giveth thee adaptation, 
thou must be very careful lest its soil contaminate thy 
spirit in thy researches. 

46. The Philosophic Geologist hath a field of labor 
which contrasts most vividly with that of the Botanist. 

47. The one among Flowers and waving trees is found, 
the other in the bowels of the earth digs his darkened 
way. 

48. The one views all things in the light of the sun ; the 



276 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

other must ofttimes obtain his most beautiful specimens 
from the dark depths of rocky caves guided by the flicker- 
ing taper. 

49. The one might be styled the ornamental, the other 
the practical. The one the building, the other its adorning. 

50. They must be connected, for without soils of earth 
flowers could never grow. Remove the hills and valleys, 
and what would become of the shrubbery thereon? 

51. The earth is composed of various strata and soils — 
rocks and metals, which lose their mystery as soon as 
understood. 

52. Thy work, Geologist, is to show that from the com- 
bination of the denser earthly elements with the more 
ethereal and rarefied elements surrounding the earth's, Life 
is sustained upon, around, and in the earth. 

53. Thy researches should not be exclusively earthy. 
Thou mayest bring up from hidden depths precious metals, 
or upon the surface discover valuable gems, or give by 
analysis correct demonstrations of the richness and capa- 
bility of soils ; but all these things are secondary unto the 
one simple fact, that light revealeth all. 

54. Light, which thou dost use to reveal the mysteries 
of the earth, is separate and independent of the earth. 

55. As thou dost penetrate the shaft deeper and still 
deeper, darkness more dense enshrouds thee. Down thou 
dost descend until in imagination the central fires are seen 
rolling their endless round. 

56. The central fires of earthly darkness seeking vent. 
The inner point whence cometh repulsion. The central 
axle whereon turneth the world as it is propelled through 
space by the ever moving Light. 

57. "Within the earth is the central reservoir whence 
cometh the opposite of light, which by constant tendency 
to hold all things close unto itself, is known to be the 
opposite of the divulging and ever spreading light without. 

58. A vast Battery is earth. Within all is dark, and 
without is all light. Thus in direct opposition to the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS 21 i 

formation of man, in whom all is light, and without all is 
darkness ; still, oh, Geologist, thou seest that in the com- 
parison earth is always darkest and densest. 

59. As thy Light within thee is thy moving power, and 
thy body, which represents darkness in thee, the resisting 
and repelling power, as thou hast different powers of 
motion, so in the earth, whence thy body came, is the 
denser darkness overcome by the denser light without, and 
Motion is obtained through elements which are but denser 
results of thy own governing essences. 

60. Herein thou seest the reason why all things on earth 
are governed by its motion — yet, also, why animal life hath 
a separate motion, and spiritual being a still separate mo- 
tive power ; yet, again, all uniting into one harmonious 
whole, with one common center! 

61. All things produced from earth have a center in 
harmony with its center. All things with this inheritance 
receive that which is termed death. The central fires of 
death, or the opposite of life, constantly consume all in 
which earth hath part. 

62. Warring continually, each striving for mastery, yet 
always in harmony, are the great opposites, life and death. 

63. The centers of the universe have affinity one for 
another. Light, wherever found, bringeth from them 
life. 

6L Thus world upon world is ever whirling through 
space, yet ever governed by light and centered by its 
opposite. 

65. Upon the earth, Intelligence or light is seen rising 
by easy, successive stages, until the glorious height of man 
is obtained. 

66. From him we see that his movements are by this 
intelligence governed ; and in the animals of lower devel- 
opment we see that the nearer his intelligence they become 
the greater their independence of action. 

67. Thus, the more light within, the more easily is the 
darkness without overcome ; and can not we infer the 



278 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

opposite to be equally true, that the darkness of the dense 
earth must be overcome by the light surrounding it ? 

68. Now, if a body be equally lighted all over its sm\ 
face, the central repulsion and outside light would balance 
each other, and could produce but one motion, which must 
be around its own center; whereas, if upon one side of 
the body the light shine, that side must strive to recede 
from the light, for the central power remaineth the same, 
and the outside opposing force is comparatively weakened. 

69. The central power of the moving body must be in 
affinity with that which moves it. This affinity can never 
be overcome. The earth's center is in affinity with the 
sun's center ; yet the earth's darkened surface repels the 
sun's light, thus begetting a motion which the sun hath 
not, and could only have by reversing their positions. 

70. The spirit of man is his center, and is in affinity with 
God the center of Wisdom. His outside is of earth, and 
by the outer light governed, and by it, united with the 
earth, sustained all through life. 

71. Geologist, show man that earth is governed by the 
same laws, less rare, that he is. 

72. Show him how and why he is of earth composed. 

73. Light his path before him. Do not search the earth 
to find out its age exclusively, nor to see how much more 
selfish man can be made by possessing that termed the 
"precious" part of it. 

74. Surely there is nothing precious unto man, save that 
which enhances the glorious knowledge of his future 
destiny. 

75. How canst thou add unto his happiness by giving 
any thing but wisdom? And if thou canst not give this, 
give not at all. 

76. Is it wise to pervert God's bounty ? to make his own 
created earth to be an instrument for the removal of his 
children farther from him than ignorance hath already led 
them? 

77. Thou shouldst give all thy knowledge unto man, in 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS, 279 

such simplicity that thy humblest helper, who digs the soil 
or rock for thee, could understand all thy teachings. 

78. Man is too prone to search below him for truths of 
value. He should seek above, knowing, as he must know, 
that spirit is eternally above all the earth. 

79. Of what advantage can dust be unto dust % Both 
are of the same composed, of whatever form or in what- 
ever mold cast, and must unto the same return. 

80. The age of the world hath been a rock upon which 
many valuable minds have split. They have searched its 
depths and heights far and wide, and returning have had 
to acknowledge that though God is unlimited, man is 
surely limited in every respect, whilst the earth hath part 
in him. 

81. If it were established, known to a certainty, the 
very hour and minute the earth were born, of what possi- 
ble advantage could the knowledge be unto man ? 

82. Man is a progressive being, and consequently can 
have no affinity with that which is gone forever behind 
him. 

83. Did he retrograde, then the distance he had to travel 
back to the beginning of earthly time would be valuable 
knowledge unto him ; but the mystery surrounding the 
commencement of time is ample proof that the present 
and future are unto man far more important than the past. 

84. All knowledge is valuable ; but that which is already 
buried in oblivion beyond the hope of recovery, that which 
is already entombed in eternity, should be permitted to 
remain there. 

85. Still, if thou hast talents which nothing save these 
researches gratify, search on, and let thy discoveries prove 
unto man that even the past, well applied, is still of ad- 
vantage unto him. 

86. The analyzation and demonstration of the component 
parts of the earth, its adaptation to different productions 
valuable and necessary unto man's present condition on 
the earth, is certainly a noble occupation. 



280 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

87. To teach him how to gain time by skill in the out- 
ward, so that his inward nature shall develop itself more 
rapidly, is a noble and useful mission. 

88. The Geologist must do this, else is he not true unto 
his trust. 

89. It becometh thee to be well on thy guard, else per- 
chance thy numerous temptations may overcome thee. 

90. Do not pander thy talents unto those who pervert 
the knowledge gained to torture their fellow-man. It were 
better that innocent ignorance were thine, than to pervert 
the gift of true knowledge. 

91. Prove to man that indeed thou art worthy of thy 
portion of that exalted name, Philosopher ; and unto God 
prove thyself a trusting, truthful, and loving child. 

92. If thou dost worship thy occupation, thy reward 
must be earthy as that thou dost worship ; whereas if 
thou dost work in the earth as a means of good unto man 
and glory unto God, thou art thereby glorified throughout 
an endless eternity. 

93. The Geologist peers into the depths of the solid 
earth; but there is one coming whose mission it is to view 
the distant inhabitants of space, and report their proceed- 
ings unto man. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

1. The Peilosophic Astronomer hath, a field so wide in 
extent and so glorious, that it would seem sufficient for a 
separate and distinct name ; still it is connected with all 
the sciences relating to earth and earthly substances so 
intimately as to come at last into the general name, almost 
boundless — Philosopher. 

2. How grandly sublime this mission ! What can bound 
thy gaze, oh ! astronomer, save the One who in creating 
set bounds thereunto ? 

3. Thou canst view with thy outward eye the multitude 
of bodies in space, and see the loveliest order in their 
arrangement, whilst the ignorant see them as but a con- 
fused, unharmonious mass. 

4. Oh, what pictures of God's immense power thou 
canst draw ! What proofs of his love through the har- 
mony of these sublime effects thou canst produce ! What 
glorious light thou canst prove to be centered around his 
holy presence by the brilliancy of those bodies which show 
but the effect thereof ! 

5. Yet how very often does it happen that the astron- 
omer descends from his observations of heaven, as it were, 
to deck himself with earthly laurels, and at the feet of 
ignorant man solicit worship ! 

6. Oh, what a falling for Man! To leave the gorgeous 
fields of the starry Heavens, and upon a dusty lump of clay 
erect a monument ! 

T. Thou dost peer through space with thy naked eye, 



282 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

and upon thy vision falls the evidence of most remote 
existence. 

8. Thou dost use thy Glass, and behold that which before 
seemed the end, now seemeth but a beginning, and thou- 
sands of times greater seemeth the dimensions of space and 
of the numerous inhabitants therein. 

9. Who can view the bright orb of earthly day, or in the 
clear midnight hour view the bright hosts of the heavens 
without feeling how very small is earth, and the part of 
man of it composed? 

10. Who can but feel in the presence of these witnesses 
that goodness alone is enduring? 

11. Who so hardened as to gaze heedlessly upon the 
pale Moon, as unto earth she giveth freely as she receives 
the softened Light ? 

12. The first question upon the gazer's lips is, Whence 
come these bodies ? Of what are they constructed ? Of 
what are they the result ? Why is Light alone visible ? 
Why are they not seen darkling, instead of ever the same 
brilliant, reflective gems ? 

13. Wherein is that glorious center, whence cometh 
all? 

14. How easy to ask, how hard to answer ! 

15. Thou canst peer through space unto an almost in- 
conceivable distance. Into the darkened void thy eye 
seeketh in vain for rest, and, returning, is glad to rest upon 
the bright and shining gems surrounding thy own inherited 
home. 

16. Astronomer, thou canst with thy outer eye and outer 
glass see the host of outer bodies in space, but in viewing 
them, what dost thou look through ? 

IT. Is that all hollow void which in thy upward gaze 
meets thy vision, save the few bright specks of shining 
matter set as brilliant gems therein ? 

18. What is the creation ? Is it a purely material ex- 
istence ? Is there nothing in space save outside build- 
ings ? If so, whence came this nothing which hath and 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 2S3 

requireth- so much more room than the things named 
creation ? 

19. Imagination runs wild, and the unaided brain wea- 
ries under such mighty thoughts as these few simple ques- 
tions call up before the mind of man ! 

20. There is one Truth revealed by the hosts of Heaven, 
by the bright stars above thee, that is as simple unto the 
child as unto the greatest Philosopher, and by the one as 
easily demonstrated as by the other, unless he be aided by 
a power above Man. This truth, self-evident unto all 
gifted with sight is, that the stars, either fixed or unfixed — 
whether solid or fluid, of whatever shape or size — do give 
forth Light. 

21. A man lights his taper, and it giveth forth rays 
unto the beholder for a season, yet dwfndles and becomes 
extinct ; 

22. Thus proving that an unlimited being can not be 
imitated by him. The knowledge of the past and present 
corresponds in asserting that the surfaces of the heavenly 
bodies, so termed, have ever shone brightly — indeed, but 
little variation hath ever been discovered in the intensity 
of their brightness ; thus proving them to have been light- 
ed and to be lighted by a Being beyond the comprehension 
of man. 

23. They are lighted. What lights them ? God. 

21. Again behold thyself, O man ! Thou art the highest, 
save One. In thee that which causeth thy elevation above 
all save this One, is thy light within. This giveth thee 
powers noble and pure ; this elevates and sustains thy 
powers. This is the governing essence of thy existence in 
affinity with the fountain whence it came, and whence it 
doth receive all nourishment. 

25. Oh, what valuable truths men throw aside as useless, 
and out of their own dust build errors wherein truths 
should dwell ! 

26. As thy light within governs thee and thy motions, 
so does the light without, which is but an emanation from 



284 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

the same pure Fountain, govern, regulate, and create the 
motions of the stars in space. 

27. Are they not all visible ? and why visible ? What 
canst thou see in total darkness? 

28. God's pure witness from every surface speaks in 
tones of harmony, " Light is our cause and our only con- 
trol." 

29. How beautiful the simplicity of God's truth ! 

30. Every child can see with outer sight that Light 
everywhere existeth, and could therefrom infer God's power 
and immensity of his intelligence more easily than from 
any mystifying explanations man can deduce from any 
other premises. 

31. How vast the difference between God's simplicity 
and man's complexity ! 

32. The shining stars reveal their greatest truth, and the 
truth unto which all other truths connected with them are 
secondary, unto every gazer. 

33. They give light freely unto all, and unto the most 
ignorant of God's children say distinctly, "The power which 
produced us is forever beyond thee." 

34. Unto the spirit of the poor, unlettered child of God, 
they whisper in simple strains of soothing truth, and unto 
him say, "Thy benighted path is lighted by an ever kind 
Beins^ who loveth thee." 

35. In the still watches of the night the witnesses are 
ever testifying that there is a bright land above, ever 
smiling upon the beholder, ever gentle guardians over the 
earthly flocks. 

36. They testify unto the goodness of God by the mani- 
festation of his outer light unto those gifted with his holy 
light within. 

37. They act upon the spirit of man by outer channels, 
thus as the earth giving outside proofs of a Father's love. 

38. Who can gaze upon the gorgeous canopy above 
without feeling that the Creator thereof is indeed above, 
not only the gazer, but also the host gazed upon ? 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 285 

39. Thou dost look up and behold the light. Surely 
herein is found truth sufficient for a life's reflection. And 
if they, the lighters, be set in a dark, unfathomable back- 
ground, so much the brighter the light revealed. 

40. Oh, what volumes of true knowledge open before the 
astronomer's gaze, as his enlarged mind drinks in the sim- 
ple grandeur of his Father's works ! 

41. He understands why man is so ignorant of God's 
goodness. He sees them wandering about among the en- 
tangling, complex webs woven in ignorance and by error 
idolized, instead of grasping the self-evident, simple truths, 
and therefrom and thereby render clear all the mysteries 
of the heavens. 

42. All things conspire to please and gratify the spirit 
of man. All that God hath done, viewed by man's spirit, 
is indeed good. And how vividly contrasts this perfect 
good with man's error ! 

43. Astronomer, a glorious mission is thine. Oh ! be 
true to thy trust. Reveal thy heavenly visions unto man 
with truthful simplicity. Teach him of an exalted Love 
above the animal desire which ofttimes assumes its pure, 
white garb of innocence. 

44. If thou dost forget thy duty unto God and man, thy 
discoveries had better never been made. 

45. It is a fearful thing to scale Heaven's high walls, 
pluck therefrom the lovely gems to scatter under thy own 
feet, thus trampling in dust that which should be a witness 
ever unto the purity of truth. 

46. If thou dost view the order of Heaven's starry 
arrangement but as a means of self-exaltation, thou art a 
poor, deluded wanderer among beauties thou canst never 
appreciate. 

47. Search the Heavens, and therefrom draw that which 
must elevate man thereunto. Show him that within his 
own being is that which a loving Father delighteth to 
gratify. Teach him that indeed the numberless bodies 
in soace are but inanimate witnesses unto the love of the 



286 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

pure One whose eternal hand did create and regulate 
them. 

48. Oh, encourage the benighted to hope on, until hope 
at last bloometh in new-born beauty beyond the end of 
time. 

49. Encourage the storm-bound to trust in God. Teach 
them that though dark clouds may intervene between them 
and the Fountain of light, still forever brightly shineth the 
Sun of Righteousness, enlivening the pure regions of Eter- 
nal Day. 

50. Thy region of reflection is boundless. Unto thy 
mind cometh mystery after mystery, but the pure In- 
telligence, the true and perfect knowledge, maketh all 
plain. 

51. Thou art not content to view only outside evidences, 
and draw the fallible conclusions of outside astronomers. 

52. Thou dost humbly and trustingly seek the Fountain 
whence all knowledge cometh, and solicit therefrom that 
which alone can quench the spirit's thirst. 

53. Before thy spiritual vision opens the door of space. 

54. Glasses and all. measuring instruments are forgotten. 

55. Thou dost behold the vast machinery of creation 
silently working out that which was, and ever must be, 
pronounced " Good." 

56. All material bodies become as but so many weights" 
to regulate the eternal motion of their own producing 
essences, which essences all branch off from the Fountain 
of Divine Purity, whence the opening draught was given 
unto thee. 

57. Space giveth up her mysteries, and that which unto 
the outer gaze must ever be mysterious becometh visible 
and understood by the light of spiritual vision. 

58. The Glass of greatest scope and power ever builded 
by man, can not reveal the truths hidden in the depths of 
invisible space. 

59. Herein is the field for astronomical investigation. 

60. Be not content to draw imaginary lines across the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 287 

boundless depth, and show the length thereof. Do not rest 
satisfied with proving that matter attracteth matter. 

61. Dive fearlessly into the hidden mysteries, and from 
the unknown shores of eternity bring back the proof of the 
causes of these truths which are plain without explanation. 

62. Some bodies have a common center in another body. 

63. Some are apparently firmly fixed. In what are bodies 
resting upon apparent nothing firmly fixed ? Surely the 
inferences drawn from outside astronomical observations 
make nothing — perfect void — a God ! and reduce our Heav- 
enly Father — as an opposite thereunto — as nothing ! 

64. Wherein is the seat or focal point of the Supreme 
Intelligence manifested in the arrangement of the universe? 

65. Matter is seen by material eyes to be ever changing 
and passing away from life to death, from light to dark- 
ness. The home of Perfection can not exist in matter, or 
aught else changeable. 

66. The reflected light rendering the starry host visible 
must have a cause separate from its object. The earth does, 
not generate or produce its own light, neither its own 
attraction, nor any thing termed principle connected with 
its existence. 

67. The Harmony and Order which is known to exist 
among the heavenly bodies must have a cause separate 
from the bodies whose state of being the terms merely 
express. 

68. And wherein can these sublime causes exist, save in 
the vast and boundless home of principles and essences 
termed space ? 

69. Man, thou dost live and move in space. Go not 
beyond thy depth, and run thy imagination wild with in- 
conceivable distances, but come down to the simple truth 
that no thing thou seest produceth itself or its governing 
principles. 

70. Dost thou say that the earth and elements surround- 
ing it produced all upon its surface ? And what produced 
the earth and its elements, hanging it in space, making it 



288 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

ever move in its own true line of existence, in harmony 
with all existence ? 

71. Great God, where'er we turn, thou alone art visible ! 
We may think when we discover some new truth unto us, 
that the mystery of existence is solved, but, alas ! the ques- 
tion first and last is, " "What causeth all ?" 

72. Unto the naked eye come the brilliant specks or 
points glistening in a vast and boundless void ; bright and 
sparkling drops illuminating man's night. 

73. And the void unto the outer eye becometh the bright 
source of all this glory unto the refined spirit's gaze. 

74. Surely imperfect vision can not see perfection. 

75. That which eye can not see does not therefore not 
exist. 

76. Life on earth confined in the vegetable, the animal, 
or in its highest plane, man, leaveth its dwelling to return 
therein no more forever. Whence did it come, whither 
doth it go ? 

77. Individuality is eternal. The fruit of eternal essences 
which centering in from their densest outside earthly or 
material home, at last find their pure cause to be in the 
Fountain of Divine Perfection. 

78. Thy eye can not see life in its simplest form, does it 
therefore not exist ? And why conclude that the ethereal 
void is indeed void of all existence ? Why conclude that 
simply because thy imperfect vision can not see aught 
save bodies in space, that these are all therein ? 

79. Oh, how short-sighted and narrow-minded is man ! 
He presumes to measure God's creation with powers which 
are but an outside result of the same creative power whence 
the outer all came. 

80. The startling immensity of space studded here and 
there with brilliant gems is forgotten, and the gems alone 
are sought, and being found are placed in the frontlet of 
the finder, as though he were the one unto whom all credit 
was due ! 

81. Unto the invisible spiritual eye, the inner Intelli- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 289 

gent principle of man, all things unseen of the outer eye 
are visible. 

82. Unto this principle or intelligent essence the myste- 
ries of creation are plain and simple. Yet the mystery of 
creating is alone God's. 

83. Purity dwelleth above and around thee. Love — gen- 
tle essence, sweet breath of Jehovah — ever leads thy step, 
and liodit from the Fountain sheddeth around thee soft and 
genial rays of true knowledge. 

84. Inward thou dost search, and still inward until the 
fount is reached, and behold in the majestic beauty of 
Divinity all thy knowledge is obtained. 

85. The Celestial Key and Chart are given thee. Thou 
dost see, as it were, essensic bands and principles emanat- 
ing from the perfect center of all power. Far out they go 
unto the end, which in imagination alone existeth, and as 
they retreat and return again, behold celestial motion and 
celestial music are produced. 

86. Here flieth the swift- winged Comet with his abun- 
dant light, but can not get beyond the light whence he 
came. Onward, over, through, and around all, he traverses 
with speed sight can not reveal unto the understanding of 
man. God's swift messenger unto all the most remote of 
his creation. 

87. And when will the messenger return ? When will 
the circling band be completed ? The messenger hath 
returned in every one who acknowledges the power of the 
ever-living God. The circling band is completed in the 
boundless circumference of eternity. 

88. Intelligence, love, combines into truth. The one 
eternal center whence the circumference is obtained is 
God. The first, the binding and blending of all things, 
the result, the last, the end of all things, is this sublime 
Cause, our God and Father ! 

89. God doth not work with effects, he produceth all. 
What he is, whence he came, or whence came his unlimited 
power is his own knowledge, useless unto man, for man is 

19 



290 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

but an effect of his producing, less intelligent than the 
Cause. 

90. An unlimited explanation can not or could not be 
understood by a limited comprehension. 

91. Astronomer, if thou hast not the spiritual vision, the 
most valuable discoveries in thy mission will remain en- 
tombed in space, and thy fellow-man remain ignorant of 
that which thou shoaldst teach. 

92. It is very easy to say that attraction or repulsion 
produces and regulates the motions of the systems and 
bodies in space ; it is a very easy matter to substitute one 
effect for another, but there must ever remain some point 
uncovered by this half-way system of explanation. 

93. How is it that bodies produce attraction, and at the 
same time are governed in their being by this attraction, 
an inherent power or product from within themselves 
derived ? 

94. They are an effect ; then how at the same time can 
they be equally cause ? Surely a deduction leaveth that 
deducted from less than it was before the deduction. And 
if from a body attraction is deducted, can it still therein 
remain ? 

95. At the center of a perfect circle attraction becometh 
extinct. 

96. At the circumference, all parts being equally distant, 
must all be equally attracted to the center. 

97. At the earth's surface, bodies are equally attracted 
toward its center. Above and around it the densest atmo- 
sphere is always found nearest its surface, and as we rise 
it becometh lighter and lighter, until it ceases entirely to 
exist. 

98. It would seem from this that attraction is a quality 
belonging to the matter attracted, and inseparable there- 
from. 

99. If it leaves not matter, how can it pass through 
the perfect void, so far as matter is concerned, termed 
space ? 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 291 

100. If it do leave matter, how can it govern the motion 
or force thereof? 

101. Principles which were created to dwell within the 
earth, or any other planet or body in space, can never leave 
it in which they were placed. 

102. Outside Philosophy can not pass beyond the atmos- 
pheric boundaries of earth, and with earthly principles and 
material bases fathom the depths of Truth. 

103. As we have ofttimes seen, there is one essence, so 
pure and so perfect, which cometh unto man's vision, de- 
fying his analysis and his control, even pure Light of spirit- 
knowledge; this will instantly solve the mystery of all 
things created. 

104. The only visible power, the greatest and highest 
seen in the heavens, and upon the earth so kind unto man, 
one of the Three Holy Fountains ; Light, thou art all our 
knowledge ; all our existence came forth good as thou didst 
leave the center on thy never-ending, creating mission ! 

105. A Body can not govern itself. The bodies in space 
can not govern or have within themselves perfect self-con- 
trol. They do not create themselves, having no power of 
accumulation or destruction, and being in effect but dead 
results compared with that Supreme Intelligence whence 
they came. 

106. Attraction, or, to use a broader and more expressive 
term, Affinity, is an emanation of Light, of whose nature 
it partakes. 

107. The emanation dwelleth in matter termed inani- 
mate, as attraction or gravitation, and in the matter termed 
animate, as affinity. 

108. The light of the most distant visible star is seen in- 
stantly by our eye, yet who would attempt to demonstrate 
that either attraction or affinity brought the shining speck 
to our view ? 

109. Is there not a higher plane, a higher range for thy 
vision, oh, astronomer, than hath ever been discovered? 

110. It is attraction which we feel toward that which is 



292 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

above, that maketh the light of the star to be in affinity 
with the light of our own eye. But this attraction and this 
life-like affinity are not of matter. They are an emanation 
from our light within, which, in turn, emanates from our 
Father in Heaven, the cause and combination of all. 

111. The separate bodies in space can not govern their 
own existence, create or control their own motion. Then 
if no part can govern itself, how can the whole of the ma- 
terial creation govern itself? 

112. Can an imperfect combination produce a perfect 
result ? 

113. Can a combination of effects produce the cause 
whence they came ? 

114. Surely God hath never builded himself and his 
power entirely out of his control in matter. And how else 
could perfect governing powers be bestowed upon matter ? 
Who, save One, is perfect? 

115. The plain truth that something save matter exists, 
proveth that it is not all in existence ; and how else could 
it be the One perfect, needing and heeding no control ? 

116. Intelligence Supreme, through essences and prin- 
ciples of intelligence, governeth all things. 

117. Light, as hath again and again been said, is the 
outside evidence and demonstration of this governing in- 
telligence. 

118. It is separate and distinct from Matter — an ethereal 
essence beyond the control of man, the most intelligent of 
God's creatures. 

119. Grand help-meet unto Life, which it produceth and 
sustaineth. 

120. It is the messenger from Planet to planet, from 
System to system, and from Star to star, ever carrying its 
binding message of Love, and revealing the simplest, sub- 
limest truths God hath e'er created. 

121. Independent cf matter, yet giving it color, and life, 
and enjoyment. Remove it from creation, and death, de- 
cay, and dissolution must ensue. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 293 

122. Oh ! Astronomer, how grand, how exalted thy mis- 
sion ! Thou dost walk the earth, viewing the mysteries of 
Heaven ! 

123. Do not lose sight of those bright lands above thee, 
and upon that beneath thy feet waste thy precious time. 

124. Beseech thy Father in Heaven to bestow upon thee 
that pure knowledge wherein error hath never dwelt. Seek 
first the Fountain of Purity, and all with thee will be well. 

125. "Without the aid of God, his works can not be com- 
prehended ; and though unaided thou mayest astonish man, 
remember that, unaided, thou canst never know true knowl- 
edge, and can not teach it. 

126. Reveal the heavens in their own light unto man. 
Simplicity is the test of knowledge. Truth is ever good 
unto all. Love all, and with thy powers do them good. 

127. A Friend approaches, who is necessary unto not 
only thee and the seekers after thy knowledge, but one 
necessary as a combining link, holding the Philosophic 
Tree, roots, trunks, and branches, all into one great sum 
of knowledge. 



CHAPTER XX. 

1. The Philosophic Mathematician might almost be 
termed the " Cemeuter" of all man's knowledge. 

2. Proportion is necessarily understood ere any thing is 
thoroughly known concerning any proposition, division, 
combination, or result whatsoever. 

3. Every branch of Scientific, Theoretical, or Practical 
knowledge is necessarily dependent upon Mathematics as 
an illustrator. 

4. Philosophy without mathematics would be a collec- 
tion of stubborn facts, separate and distinct from each 
other. 

5. This branch of science might be termed with truth the 
Love of knowledge. The harmony it reveals as every- 
where existing in God's works, and the errors of man 
making plain, showeth it to be indeed but a figurative ex- 
pression of Harmony. 

6. It is the science of demonstration from which a knowl- 
edge of God's love must result, if the Mathematician be 
true unto his trust. 

7. This exalted science hath ever been kept in too low a 
sphere. 

8. Man hath degraded it by making it subserve most 
selfish ends. 

9. He hath used it to calculate his chances of injuring 
a brother, instead of doing him good. Wisdom in Figures 
hath been made but a secure vehicle in which selfishness 
rides. 

10. It hath been used to show the value of the outward — 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 295 

how to make the effects of earth subserve the fleshy wants 
of man ; 

11. Been made a tool for the hand of avarice to use at 
the expense of all the higher and holier desires of man. 

12. Thus, in common with all different branches of 
knowledge, being perverted and used to drive man farther 
from his true position, in the sight of God, than to elevate 
him thereto. 

13. The pruning and cleaning of this vast field is surely 
a great undertaking, and one that should not heedlessly be 
entered into. 

14. The demonstrating of Harmony requireth an harmo- 
nious organization to accomplish. 

15. God is the great producer of harmony, and conse- 
quently the founder of all true systems of explanation 
thereof. 

16. He is The Mathematician. 

17. Thy duty, as in the foregoing branches we have 
demonstrated, is to seek Him fii$t. 

18. Thy mission, O Mathematician, is one of such vast 
proportions, that only a great Spirit and peculiarly organ- 
ized mind can understand it. 

19. Its mysterious emblem, the Circle — its source, the 
Fountain of all knowledge. Unlimited as its Creator — 
whence it sprang as He gave birth unto sound. His first 
tones were the birth of musical Numbers. 

20. The tones divided Chaos in measured proportions. 
As they sped in circling lines, their resultant harmony 
became displayed in the objects created. 

21. The Heavenly host sang together their own mea- 
sured strain, and every string of the grand, celestial Harp 
was numbered. The vibrations were known, and through 
all ran the majestic proportions in their birth eternally 
fixed. 

22. The Stars were numbered, their compass measured, 
and their capability understood ; their distance apart reg- 
ulated, their individuality secured, and their surfaces 



296 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

trimmed into the necessary shape to give forth the desirable 
tone. 

23. The Earth took its circling, endless pathway through 
space — one among the unknown number unto all thereon. 

24. It was balanced, weighed in perfect scales, set in 
motion, waving its eternal word " good" before the eyes 
of its distant kind. 

25. Life came forth in the air, in the seas, upon the 
Earth and beneath its soil, yet every bird, fish, beast, and 
insect had its numbered sphere and its own number fixed. 

26. The wants of these were known and numbered, and 
the supply regulated to forever surpass their greatest 
dimensions. Every tree that grew upon the earth — every 
shrub, bush, and flower, yea, every spear and blade of 
grass — all were numbered and assigned a place and 
mission. 

27. Man came forth the last and greatest. 

28. Creation was the emblem of oneness, each being 
represented one in the vast number which one began and 
One ended. 

29. Next unto God stood the one termed man. All else 
were below him, and by his comprehension measured. By 
his side stood the beginning, the middle, and ending. 

30. The One who knoweth all things — unto whose wis- 
dom man's knowledge is as his individual one unto the vast 
sum of ones below him. 

31. Man was a grand sum — a product outwardly of all 
things outward. His capability was fixed, comprehension 
bounded, and he too was "Good." 

32. The hairs of his head were numbered, and every pore 
and nerve in his skin had length, breadth, and depth as- 
signed unto them. 

33. His wants were in harmony with his supply. All, 
all, from the Creator to the minutest atom, were numbered 
as one — a part and parcel of the One whence they came. 

34. The atom is in harmony with Infinity, and all things 
between are, as it were, between them — thus forming 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 297 

the sum of creation whence all comparative power is ob- 
tained. 

35. Who can solve this sum % Who from the two given 
points determine the third one ? Who can solve the grand 
Problem, Individuality ? 

36. The understanding of the given points can not be 
obtained save through the gift of God. Man can not weigh 
the atom — he can not measure Deity, and can not deter- 
mine truthfully, unaided, any given point required between 
them. 

37. The sum, evident unto all is, that all are ones — all 
different, yet all from one produced. They all, united with 
the Intelligence of Deity, form the one harmonious whole. 

38. If God is one, all must be fractional parts of him, 
and he alone be all. 

39. Man can never obtain a fixed, outward starting- 
point. 

' 40. His mathematics must get within the spirit's range 
of knowledge, or he can not solve the problems most val- 
uable unto his eternal being. 

41. All things being numbered, must by numerical pro- 
portions be revealed. 

42. The Creation balances. God balanced it perfectly. 
He set it in motion. He keeps it where it is by the princi- 
ples instilled within it at its birth. 

43. Whatever channel we enter, proportion strikes our 
view, and we see the outward and inward ever moving 
onward in their endless rounds. 

44. Divisions, additions, or subtractions tell ever wherein 
is truth, and its proportion with other truths. 

45. The emblems of these demonstrators are ever truth- 
ful. 

46. The Musician measures his strain with them in order 
to give the ignorant an idea of its outward form, for he 
knoweth they will reveal truthfully. 

47. The Poet builds out his Ideal as nearly as it can be 
done by the use of figures, therein barring all imitation, 



298 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

and making his own worded harmony to immortalize him- 
self by this truthful means of demonstration. 

48. The Painter may not number the proportions of 
Light he uses to reveal his inner beauties, but the propor- 
tions are used, and, if expressed at all, can be most truth- 
fully by the use of Figures. 

49. The Sculptor knoweth that one stroke too many or 
too little must leave his work less beautiful than without 
the defect. 

50. And as his chips lie around the statue, he knoweth 
that they, added unto it, would again produce the identical 
block whence it came. 

51. Thus is Mathematics, or the science of proportions 
and combinations, the vehicle in which man's productions 
of beauty securely ride before the gaze of his admiring 
kindred. 

52. The Composer's sentences are either smoothly round- 
ed or roughened and jarring, as upon the eye they fall. 

53. His productions pass freely into the mind of the 
reader as they are truthfully proportioned ; or, if rough 
and uncouth, they grate upon his sensitive sight and mind, 
and give his reader ample excuse for leaving the dispro- 
portioned production. 

54. The Orator knoweth full well that sound hath length, 
breadth, and depth, and is very careful to word his swells 
with those phrases in which sounds are most beautifully 
proportioned. He seeth wherein others fail, and learns 
from their ignorance the beauties of truthful expression to 
use successfully. He combines great truths with simple, 
plain expressions, and thus holds his listener with beauties 
few indeed can understand the simple causes of. 

55. The Physician proportions his medicine to suit his 
comprehension of the disease he desires to remove there- 
with ; and if he cure, the proportion is noted as a success- 
ful combination for the removal of that disease. 

56. Every branch of Philosophy is dependent upon the 
proportions shown by figures for its demonstrations. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 299 

57. What could the Chemist reveal of his divisions with- 
out first dividing, and how can he divide without using 
proportions or parts to show combinations ? His numerous 
vessels, jars, and retorts would forever stand idle, uncom- 
prehended, if he had not this truthful means of conveying 
his discoveries unto man. 

58. And the Botanist must count his floral collection, 
arrange them in order by the numbers and sizes of their 
leaves, and buds, and blossoms. 

59. Every portion of his pleasing task becometh easier 
from this arrangement, and the combinations of his bouquet 
more pleasing from the regular distribution of different 
colored gems. Stern lines divide his beauties, and to ex- 
press their division proportion must be used. 

60. The Geologist in his simplest analysis must also 
borrow of the Mathematician his truthful figures. All his 
results tend to show combined effects, and the effects of 
which combination is a result. To perform his simplest 
experiments, to obtain his simplest truths, and to prove 
unto others that he hath obtained them, he must use a 
portion of the earth, and show the proportions thereof. 

61. The Astronomer can not take an observation of the 
Heavens unless his glass be rightly adjusted, and he can 
not build his glass or regulate its height without being to 
a certain extent a Mathematician. His distances are un- 
known if he hath not figures at his command. The shapes 
of bodies, their sizes and number, are all unto him con- 
veyed through truthful proportions expressed by correct 
figures. 

62. He can not prove the Harmony of the Universe with- 
out using the emblems of harmony and truth, the demonstra- 
tions of all true science couched in simple, plain Figures. 

63. Thus is the Mathematician the keeper of the Keys 
opening all doors leading unto true science. He is the 
foundation, as it were, of the edifice. Without his firm 
Bock, representing Love in its mighty strength, all sciences 
would fall. 



300 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

64. The reason is, simply because truth is in every figure ; 

65. Thus making Figurative Truth the beginning and 
ending of all science. It would seem that the long sought 
Magic Stone, producing all things, refining all things from 
dross to purity, is found to be composed of Light blended 
by Love into Truth. 

66. These three points blended into one, will give Man 
all that man can desire. The fountain of knowledge is 
God's favor. 

67. Those favored of. Him are favored by All. 

68. Oh, Mathematician, what proofs thou canst bring of 
God's loving nature ! "What goodness thou canst prove 
existing in all things ! Not only in the different branches 
enumerated, but in their branches, and in every depart- 
ment of man's occupations in life, thou hast employment. 

69. Truth is ever simple and lovely, and all mankind 
must acknowledge its power. They may, through interested 
motives or downright ignorance, strive to pervert or shun 
it, but so sure as God endureth, so sure will his attributes 
endure. 

70. Yet the truthful figures have been used in selfish 
channels, and been made to pull man down instead of ele- 
vating him. 

71. Why is this ? Ignorance of truth hath done it. Did 
men know the strength, simplicity, and durability of truth, 
they would never reject it. 

72. Not knowing truth, and being taught error, it hath 
grown familiar, and being engrafted by habit into man's 
nature, it hath become a great cancer, as it were, whose 
veins permeate all flesh. 

73. The Mathematician hath gone astray, and with his 
great powers turned purity into impurity. He hath taken 
a pure mind, and with an entangling net of lines, angles, 
and circles bewildered it, until the selfishness caught in its 
ample folds was added unto the vast disease already in the 
Human System. 

74. He hath made his monument out of Demonstration 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 301 

instead of the eternal Truths demonstrated. He, too, hath 
chased after the effects of creation instead of the designs 
in creating. 

75. He hath left God, and at the feet of Idols worshiped ! 

76. High and holy are the truths within his grasp, yet 
if he leave the truth, and before his kind only bring his 
demonstrations thereof as a show, he hinders the cause of 
truth by his own selfishness. 

77. Surely that which is eternal is more worthy of notice 
and admiration than that which is born of time and soon 
perishes. 

78. Difficult combinations are used to express simple 
truths. Entangling lines, angles, and figures are used in 
such complication, that he must be learned indeed who can 
see the use of the mass before him. 

79. This grand Key of the Sciences has been used in 
such debasing work, that rust hath corroded its surface, 
and the bolts can scarcely be made to obey its demands. 

80. Solids and liquids of earth have been measured, 
weighed, and used by this perverted rusty key for the 
most selfish ends. 

81. Calculations and plottings against the earthly happi- 
ness and eternal welfare of man have been locked beyond 
the sight of the ignorant mass by this perverted key. 

82. Not only in the knowledge termed " scientific," but 
in that termed " practical," hath this science of propor- 
tions and combinations been used as a means of selfish 
gratification and pride. 

83. Oh, Man, how hast thou fallen ! Descended from 
Truth's upright simplicity to error's dangerous complica- 
tions ; and thou dost search therein for pleasure ! Surely 
God is not a God of errors ! 

84. It would seem that all knowledge hath been used to 
add unto fleshy cares by illustrating only those things which 
belong unto time and man's earthly passage. 

85. As though knowledge of all kinds was not the dem- 
onstrator of eternal Truths ! and as though the baubles 



302 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

which delight a sensual, earthly appetite could elevate one 
in the sight of Jehovah ! 

86. Oh ! return to the Fountain, thou worshiper of the 
shells of science, and therein dip thy Compass and Rule ; 
therein dip thy pen and scribe truthfully the enduring beau- 
ties of eternity. 

87. Canst thou separate time from Eternity ? Do not 
battle with the ever onward current, but peacefully upon 
its bosom lay as it hurries on toward the sea wherein is all 
knowledge. 

88. Demonstrate God's love unto man. Thy Figures in 
their simplest combinations reveal the harmony which is 
but an evidence of the supreme Love whence all things 
came and by which are all governed. 

89. Outside is continually changing and passing away, 
then can it be its own creator ? Surely that which ever 
changeth can be but an unsteady foundation upon which to 
risk a monument. 

90. An exalted pride and the highest self-love would 
dictate unto all mankind that a trusting dependence upon 
an Eternal God was the only enduring good they could 
seek. 

91. If thou dost love thyself, love God, who alone 
can exalt thee to the highest point attainable in the 
Heavens. 

92. Is earth and all of its matter worth striving for? 
Surely, when obtained, if it do not pass away from thee, 
thou must leave it behind and empty return unto Him 
who expected more of thee. 

93. Truth, sublimely simple and lovely, ever beckons 
man toward the Source whence he came. Error, or that 
which was intended to be below man's use, but by his 
weakness sought, is ever the reverse of simplicity, and its 
fruits are the reverse of love. 

94. Thus behold the difference again between God's per- 
fection and man's perversion. The one showeth his truth 
in lovely simplicity, the other weaves webs whose mys- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 303 

tery alone recommend them to the ignorant admiration of 
his kind. 

95. The Mathematician, seeking God's favor, should 
leave the demonstration of effects, and reveal the causes 
thereof. Instead of revealing the comparative weight, size, 
and distances of objects, let him search after their invisible 
properties ; and if he use the outward, let it be to show the 
inward beauties thereof. 

96. The Figures he uses are but outward signs depend- 
ing upon his own inner intelligence for demonstration, and 
upon the intelligence of the observer for comprehension. 

97. Thou might forever work and never be comprehend- 
ed, if none save thee were intelligent. 

98. Let thy field be one wherein intelligence alone 
existeth. Show man, through this unerring means, the 
highest duties God hath given him to perform. Let not 
thy treasures be wasted upon those things upon which man 
is already too prone to dwell, but raise him by thy truthful 
means to a higher plane, whereon shineth light nearer the 
Fountain of Purity. 

f 9. Show the great capability of man's mind. Show him 
the lovely proportions thereof. Teach him the combination 
of spirit with his earthly life ; and, oh ! far more import- 
ant than all, teach him the intimate connection between 
his spirit and its creating Father. 

100. Enter the regions wherein pure knowledge dwell- 
eth, and prove thyself worthy of thy high mission as Love's 
demonstrator. 

101. Why hath thy branch of knowledge laid almost 
idle for centuries ? Why hath the apparent climax been 
reached ? 

102. Is it not because man is content to worship at the 
shrines erected in by-gone ages, offering stale sacrifices on 
old shrines, instead of offering up daily living tribute unto 
a living God ? 

103. How can any science progress which looks only 
backward. 



304 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

104. The reason Mathematics does not progress more 
rapidly in the present, is simply because the old truths are 
so tenaciously held fast unto. 

105. They are worthy of all admiration so far as they 
are truth, and because they are truth ; but they are not 
all of the truth, and should never be viewed as all of this 
great branch of knowledge. 

106. If thou canst see no outlet in outside Philosophy 
for the outpouring of thy talents, remember that there is 
a higher philosophy and a higher plane for its exercise 
than man hath e'er discovered. 

107. Solve the mystery of the Circle. As thou art nec- 
essary unto all science, show thyself the master of all. But 
to be master, thou must first be servant. 

108. Man hath admitted his limitation in the slow steps 
thy science hath taken. Then go unto the Unlimited for 
thy key, and the limited will have their vision expanded 
by thy faithful portraiture of the truths thou hast learned. 

109. When the Germ is quickened, and life takes on its 
outward form, growing to perfection, so termed, and then 
gradually returns again toward the invisible Source whence 
it came, all can see the full-grown fruit, the decay and 
death, but none save the Creator can see the beginning and 
the ending. 

110. This mystery is beyond all calculations. The 
minutest fractions of which man's imagination can con- 
ceive, can not define the commencement nor fix the ending. 

111. There is but One who begins and ends in the same 
place ; 

112. This is God. Man, next unto him, commences in 
the germ, yet groweth unto the comprehension of great 
wisdom, dies, passes away, yet not to the starting-point. 

113. The simple truth that man does progress or retro- 
grade ; the truth that nothing stands still in the universe, 
showeth that the lines in which all principles and essences 
governing the creation move, must be circling spiral lines. 

114. The vine takes its circling course upward, and in 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



305 



its fruit its seed is glorified. The seed is gone, yet a 
greater number is come unto the earth to supply greater 
demands, 

115. The Points of the Triangle, whence the center is 
found, are ever beyond the control of man. He can ascer- 
tain no beginning, and can fix no ending. 

116. How, without a fixed center, can a circumference 
be obtained. 

117. And how canst thou fix a center in that which is 
governed by a spiral motion ! Perfection is eternally 
beyond the compass and comprehension of Man. 

118. Light emanating from the Supreme Intelligence of 
Deity is. of itself a result of that intelligence, and by its 
source alone comprehended. 

119. It unites with the pure essence Love, and they, com- 
bined, constitute the being and laws of being in all things 
implanted. 

120. Their nature, as demonstrated in man, is ever on- 
ward and upward. They are living attributes of Deity, 
and wheresoever they exist, therein is found life, intelli- 
gence, and love. 

121. Then if Intelligence ever circles upward and on- 
ward, and all things are an emanation of Intelligence 
within the spirit of God, how can man reduce this ever- 
moving essence to an outside dead production ? 

122. A limited part can never comprehend an unlimited 
whole. 

123. The lines of intelligence encompassing space, and 
all therein, are spirally coiled around the focal Point of all 
Power. All things emanating from God are thus in con- 
stant change — eternal motion from the Center produced. 

124. Knowledge must ever increase to give happiness 
unto man. 

125. Love ever clingeth around its point of production. 

126. In the denser results of these refined attributes of 
Jehovah, outward changing motion is the proof of the on- 
ward power of light and the restraining power of love.. 

20 



306 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

127. Oli, Mathematician, surely the solving of the mys- 
teries of the creation will ever unto thee be impossible, if the 
Center of all knowledge do not shed upon thee his holy rays. 

128. And what glory can there be in seeking after that 
which man hath sought fruitlessly for centuries? Is there 
but one mystery to solve? — one great truth to discover? 
Seek higher. 

129. Holy food and pure nourishment await thee. Do 
not limit thyself to earthly things. Surely there are nobler 
proportions and purer combinations than man hath ever 
discovered. 

130. From an outside science turn thy mind inward, and 
elevate the forms thou dost use unto demonstrations of 
God's love and his intelligence. 

131. In every thing God hath created, thou wilt see the 
proportions of light and darkness, life and death, blending, 
winding against one another, the one ascending, the other 
descending, yet all from God produced. 

132. In spiral lines Light descends to the uttermost ends 
of creation; in spiral lines darkness ascends toward the 
pure fountain, thus, as it were, by contact one with the 
other, producing life and its enjoyment in animated nature, 
and attraction in the inanimate particles of matter. 

133. All at the Fountain is pure. Intelligence and love 
blended into Truth called Purity. The outgoing light and 
incoming darkness at the Fountain are equal, yet ever 
changing from the motion produced below. 

134. God upon his child doth shed the highest intelli- 
gence that hath left his holy presence. Yet the child is 
dark, and must by the light be raised to the fountain, and 
drink thereat to receive happiness. 

135. All that God hath done is good. 

136. And if His child do not comprehend this good, is 
it therefore not good ? 

137. Mathematician, thou too must help thy kind toward 
the summit of the mountain wherefrom truth is always 
visible, but error never seen. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 30T 

138. Thou, too, must do thy share toward his perfecting, 
thus raising thyself by the use of intelligence and love unto 
their comprehension. 

139. Thou must cement mankind by the truthful means 
within thy power into an universal band of Brotherhood. 
All partaking of the same divine rays; all joining in the 
same happy strain ; all united by one Eternal Love. 

140. Thy mission is endless as the knowledge thou dost 
demonstrate. 

141. As thou dost progress, new truths and simpler com- 
binations meet thy spiritual vision, which in purity ever 
increases. 

142. Thou dost advance, as thou canst with thy propor- 
tional laws demonstrate, faster and still higher, and ever 
onward, as age advances, counting from thy germ-cause, 
until eternity's endless circle revealeth the boundary, and 
God the central cause of all. 

143. Thou art the Philosopher's Staff. Upon thee he 
must lean for support. He hath tried thee well, and thou, 
too, art pronounced " Good." 

144. The great tree of philosophical knowledge was 
planted, watered, nourished, shone upon, by the Great 
Creator. 

145. Every Root and Branch, every leaf and flower, 
from Him received strength, symmetry, and beauty. 

146. Oh, then, Philosopher, reject not thy Cause, for 
thus wouldst thou reject all. 

147. Eemember thy Creator ; seek his counsel, and high, 
holy, and pure happiness is ever thine. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

1. The Dove hath flown Heavenward. Through the 
celestial regions she taketh her way. She carrieth a mes- 
sage for the Divine One. 

2. Myriad Angels greet her return with smiling faces, 
and singing voices join with the harp's soft notes in a full 
chorus of Welcome Home. 

3. She tarrieth not until upon the hand of Heaven's 
Highest she resteth. Her mission is told ; and around 
her soft, white neck the Great Creator winds a string of 
pearly gems, that the heavens may know she hath been 
faithful. 

4. Again she flieth earthward. Again the expecting 
host watch her airy flight, as far away toward the realms 
of night she wanders. Again they listen for that sign or 
tone that shall instruct them the Father's Will. 

5. As she passeth onward toward the home of man, from 
her beak a brilliant flag is unfurled, and before their de- 
lighted gaze appears, in letters of living light, "Love for 
the Lowly." 

6. And the Heavens resound with joyous strains unto 
the Father sung, who alone is all. Angels sing in happier 
tones than they ever knew before. And the Dove cometh 
down again with Inspired Love to illuminate the darkened 
path of man. 

7. She is no longer seen in the Studio, or at the Harp, 
for her pupils are progressing fastly from her previous 
instructions. 

8. She hath left the entangling combinations of the Li- 
brary, and the mysteries of the Beautiful, and the analyz- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 309 

ing retorts ; and even the Starry Heavens she hath ceased 
to gaze npon as a means of knowledge. 

9. She hath settled down into the habitations of God's 
poor and lowly. 

10. Humble helper of the humble in spirit is God's 
Dove, Inspiration. 

11. If, oh, man, thy lot be cast among those termed 
lowly on the earth, think not therefore that God is farther 
from thee. 

12. He is present ever where his child is found ; and 
wherever is encouragement for man, therein is His voice 
vibrating. 

13. Thou may est be debarred from leading thy kind, but 
all the creation can not remove thee from thy privilege 
of being by God led in those paths he desireth, if thou be 
faithful unto him as within thyself revealed. 

14. If thou canst not safely tread the slippery and re- 
sponsible paths of science, if thou canst only safely tread 
the earth, and on it perform thy mission, remember that 
the product of thy labors, if faithful, will glorify God. 

15. Abundant light bringeth abundant responsibility. 
If thou art lowly, remember the humblest slave on earth 
is God's child, and within his spirit is ever welling the 
Fountain wherein the divine waters of inspiration dwell. 

16. Surely none can tell how God vieweth them and 
their brethren. 

IT. Kemember, child of humility, thou mayest by God 
be viewed very differently from the view man taketh of 
thy actions and life. 

18. What matter how men respect thee if thou dost not 
respect thyself? or what matter how they blame if within 
thee thou dost feel the sustaining help of a clear and pure 
spirit's voice ? 

19. If within thee thou art conscious of striving to do 
thy highest duty unto man, though he blame thee, God 
must ever approve thee who art unto thy light faithful. 

20. If thou dost dig the earth, draw water, hew stone, or 



310 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

do most menial labor at the Temple, so thou dost labor 
faithfully, thou wilt most surely partake of the feast when 
thy task is finished. 

21. If thou dost crowd a brother from his labor, that 
thou mayest take his place, think not that therefore thou 
wilt have his seat ; ' for as thou canst not do his labor, 
neither will his seat fit thee. 

22. It becometh every man to do his highest duty unto 
God, and consequently unto man, in whatever station he 
may be placed upon earth. 

23. Do not look upon earth as the eternal home of man, 
for thou must know he passeth therefrom, all save that 
which is of earth earthy. And if he pass away, what 
matter how much power, pomp, or pride surrounded him 
whilst upon it ? 

24. Did he own the earth, and were all mankind his 
bondmen, all would be left behind at death of his body. 

25. Know, thou Laborer, that the spirit of Man doth not 
value or receive happiness from the outward. No matter 
how high thou mayest think the happiness of power and 
of earthly pride, the spirit of the earthly exalted singeth a 
mournful song. 

26. It is surrounded by bars of steel, is inclosed in a 
dungeon dark and drear, if upon it falleth not the eternal 
light of God. 

27. Oh, envy not the bound one his chains ! Envy not 
man for his power over men ; rather shrink within thyself, 
and therein learn what exalteth, and feel true exaltation. 

28. Unto thy gaze cometh the glowing sunlight, making 
all thou lookest upon beautiful. Unto thy gaze cometh 
the pale Moon's beams, and the Star's gentle light, as 
freshly and as purely as unto the proudest eye on earth. 

29. Oh, then, if God hath placed thee on a level with 
man, and he may think thou art below, he is not thy judge, 
neither art thou his ; God knoweth, seeth, and conipre- 
hendeth all. 

30. Do not presume because thou thinkest thyself un- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 311 

worthy to act as if thou wert so, thus rendering thyself 
liable to fall from that which may, in God's sight, be a 
high position. 

31. The lowly of earth should turn their gaze toward 
God, and not toward a brother's position. 

32. Why seek those places " above" thee and thy station ? 
Why thinkest thou they are above ? Thou dost measure 
with a selfish, contracted vision, else that thou thinkest so 
high and enviable would dwindle and sink below thee oft- 
times ere thou hadst ceased to view it. 

33. God, thy Father, is highest. He regulates the scale 
of progression, and justice is meted out unto all. It would 
seem presuming in any man to say that himself or a 
brother was in a high position. 

34. If thou dost do homage unto man on account of his 
position, thou art ministering unto his pride, and art de- 
grading thyself thereby. 

35. Surely if none would elevate, none would be ele- 
vated. And if thou dost sustain and envy a brother in the 
high earthly position, thou art no better than he. And if 
he strive to do his duty in his place of action, he must in 
the striving be exalted ; yet if thou dost envy, and still 
sustain, thou art an hypocrite, and lowly indeed. 

36. Position is not elevation or exaltation. Neither can 
the opinion of men exalt or degrade any man in the sight 
of God. 

37. Thou canst exalt thyself in God's sight simply by 
fulfilling thy own highest ideas of duty. 

38. Fulfilling thy present light giveth thee purer light 
in thy future. As within thee the taper glows, so must thy 
actions be guided, and happiness regulated. 

39. Would those termed " lowly" cease to degrade them- 
selves by blindly idolizing their prouder brethren, their 
own positions would instantly assume a higher plane. 

40. Surely if they make idols of men, the idols will de- 
mand worshipful obedience from the makers. If they feed 
pride, it will most assuredly grow, and at their expense. 



312 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

41. All positions on earth are comparative. As some 
raise man above the common level, others reduce him be- 
low. It is often seen that one " high position," so termed, 
is sustained by the labors of many men, thus reducing 
many as much as one be elevated. 

42. This comparativeness of positions in the outward 
mass results from the same scale within each individual 
one of the mass. 

43. If a man's spiritual powers develop, they do so in 
opposition to and by taxation upon the resisting animal 
powers. And if the animal powers grow and strengthen, 
the spiritual must suffer. 

44. If thou dost help, elate, and stimulate the pride of 
an earthly brother, thou art ministering unto his animal 
nature, and thus art helping to develop passions which 
must retard the progress of man in the mass. 

45. Let thy standard of judgment in man be goodness. 

46. There is no true greatness separate from goodness. 

47. In actual goodness each man can elevate himself. 

48. Position is all outward ; goodness is all inward. In 
position all differ ; in goodness all can excel. He who sur- 
passes his own animal nature, excels. 

49. If thou art lowly in position, be highly in goodness. 

50. Giving is goodness only in proportion unto receiving. 
True and eternal goodness ariseth from Charity. 

51. He who giveth alms is not therefore charitable. God 
giveth all, and man receiveth all ; yet God giveth within 
his child the goodness which produceth happiness. He 
hath placed but little value in the outward, for the man 
who holds the most on earth is ofttimes most unhappy. 

52. Whereas he who holdeth the value within his own 
spirit is rich, though he hath naught outward save his own 
body. 

53. Therefore Charity is not an outward gift, but an 
inward blessing. 

54. Therefore the poorest of earth can be richest, and the 
so-called rich most needy. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 313 

55. Surely as God giveth, so should his child. Give 
not dust unto an hungering brother, for he can receive that 
of the earth. If thou givest alms, let them be love. 

56. Give no man that which can do no good. If a 
brother ask, give as thou hast. If he be hungry, feed him 
— if naked, clothe him. 

57. Yet if thou hast neither food nor raiment, give him 
of thy treasure within, one grain's weight of which lasteth 
forever. 

58. If thou hast no treasure within, thou art poorest of 
the poor, and would do well to ask for thyself of thy Father 
in Heaven. 

59. Charity giveth her best gifts most freely. 

60. "With charity all are rich, without it all are poor. 

61. Poverty in the outward removeth numberless cares 
from thy path, and helpeth thus to strengthen thy inward 
spirit. 

62. Surely it is more blessed to give spiritual gifts, which 
last forever, than to give that which ever changeth. 

63. And if thou hast not outward goods, be not there- 
fore selfish with thy spiritual goods, which alone are of 
lasting value. 

64. If man be selfish, and thou dost imitate him, what 
credit is due thee ? Thou mayest be poor, but poverty is 
no excuse, for all are poor without God's favor. And how 
canst thou be favored, unless worthy ? 

65. And how canst thou be worthy without being just? 

66. Giving in spirit and in truthful love doth not impov- 
erish man. 

67. God giveth all. Surely he is rich beyond naming in 
all things, and if richness giveth, he that giveth as God is 
most rich. 

68. Then get not behind thy outward poverty or lowli- 
ness, and think to hide thee thus from God's view and from 
thy responsibility. 

69. Man may think thee poor, whilst in God's sight thou 
art far richer than the one judging thee. 



314 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

TO. Thy outward poverty may be thy greatest blessing. 
Thou must know thou art a poor judge of thyself, and 
should be careful how thou dost decide. 

71. Surely all men have access unto God, and thus are 
all in this respect equal. 

72. If men crowd thee down or away from positions of 
outward responsibility, it would be well to thank them. 

73. They may injure thy outward hopes, but thy inward 
welfare can only be injured by and with thy own consent. 

74. He who leaveth the inward, and hopeth only for the 
things which his body can use, hath no exalted aspira- 
tions. His hoping is lifeless as dust, and his desires most 
earthy. 

75. They who have within them an exalted Hope, are 
blessed. 

76. The fruits of the highest ever grow, nourished by the 
pure essences that surround Jehovah. 

77. The truly high are they that strive, unmindful of 
self, to do the highest requirements of their Father, as 
within their own spirit revealed. 

78. Hope ever accompanies the trusting spirit — ever 
carrieth before it the pure taper, whence cometh the ever- 
living light. 

79. The poor man's Friend — the stay of the lowly — the 
bright taper ever shines, reflecting around the humble 
homes a sweet foretaste of Heaven's joy. 

80. Oh, man, if thou art ever so poor that from hour to 
hour thou knowest not whence food will come to sustain 
thy animal life, reject not the sweet food which an exalted 
hope giveth unto the sustaining spirit within. 

81. Remember that thou art near and dear unto an all- 
wise and all-powerful Father ; and if thy body suffer, it is 
far better thus than for thy spirit to go hungering for his 
sympathizing Love. 

82. He hath given all in Hope that can aid thee when 
all else seems turned against thee. 

83. What can riches benefit a hopeless spirit? The 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 315 

greatest outward wealth can never bribe Hope to enter the 
spirit of man. 

84. Thou canst only gain her sweet presence from a 
trusting reliance upon God, whose messenger she is unto 
his child. 

85. Neither will Faith enter and dwell within thee if 
thou dost look to the outward baubles of time for pleasure 
and enjoyment. 

86. She sustaineth the lowly far more often than those 
termed " great" and "high." 

87. She hath no affinity for deceit and cunning shrewd- 
ness. Her path is straight and plain. No man can mis- 
take her requirements. She asketh simply that each be 
true unto himself, and his own dictations within. 

88. Her engagements are kept. She never deceives the 
trusting. 

89. She never paints for show, but in simplicity reveal- 
eth truth unto all. 

90. She asketh obedience of all. No one is exempt from 
her call. She requireth in the outward uprightness, in the 
inward holiness. 

91. The foundation upon which Hope resteth and Charity 
giveth, is Faith. 

92. Twin sisters are they, daughters of God, Ministers 
unto man. 

93. And surely the lowly are God's children ; unto them 
most dear, because most needy. Yet they favor none above 
the demands of worthiness. They know no outward de- 
sires, but seek to gratify every inward want. 

94. They ever sympathize with the oppressed. With the 
poor, unrequited slave, they weep and mourn over man's 
bitterness, and his tears while away with perfect sympathy. 

95. They raise within him distant lands and lovelier 
skies, upon which his delighted gaze loveth to linger. 
Thus they soothe his fretting mind, and upon his spirit pour 
out their love, raising, him toward Heaven, despite of all 
surrounding circumstances. 



316 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

96. God is good. All know this who unto him are 
responsible. 

97. He blesseth the poor and lowly. And though they 
may know it not, their greatest blessing is clothed in 
poverty. 

98. Dust can not enter Heaven, because it hath no com- 
prehension of that which reigneth therein. 

99. The laborer who frets his spirit by worrying after 
the earth he digs, is most ignorant of God's pure blessings. 

100. All lowliness is voluntary. God loveth all, and 
hence upon this broad basis all are equal. If any descend 
below their high privileges, surely they are alone responsi- 
ble for the descent. 

101. And how much easier to descend, when surrounded 
by the pompous and proud tempters, than when upon an 
humble footing, surrounded by humble brethren ! 

102. It becometh the lowly to be ever on their guard, 
lest they become flatterers of pride and hypocrisy in man, 
instead of sincere worshipers of God. 

103. They who minister unto thy outer wants are always 
below Him who supplieth the everlasting blessings within 
thy eternal spirit. 

104. Whatever thy occupation, worship God in spirit 
and in truth, for this is ever required of Man. 

105. All who receive existence should pay for it by sin- 
cere and active gratitude. 

106. Art thou too poor to be grateful ? Too lowly to be 
thankful for thy existence ? 

107. Is thy existence burdensome ? Then bear the bur- 
den manfully, and, depend upon it, thy reward will be 
greater than if thou didst cast off the load. 

108. Thou canst not cast thy spirit away, but thy body 
is within thy control. If outer existence cramp and hurt 
thee in all directions outward, remember that all have bur- 
dens, and they are all rewarded as they carry them faith- 
fully. 

109. Thou didst not load thyself; and if thou carriest 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 317 

for the glory of a good Father, surely justice will ampiy 
repay thee in the glory earned. 

110. All loads fit best the backs carrying them, and 
thine fits thee better than thou couldst fit thyself. 

111. Thy constant desire for change, and the constant 
unstableness of human satisfaction, should encourage thee 
to look higher and farther, above and beyond that which 
changeth so quickly. 

112. If the sought changeth and the desire changeth, 
how can finding changeful things gratify? 

113. Seek ever the unchangeable and eternal Father ; 
and though thou wilt ever change toward higher stages of 
purity, each succeeding step will elevate thee to higher 
enjoyments and purer happiness. 

114. God is perfection. Then why envy man his imper- 
fection ? Strive after an exalted independence of man and 
dependence upon God. Love thy kind, but worship nor 
envy no man. 

115. Do thy duty cheerfully. Be not cast down by 
dusty weights, by earthly cares ; but let forth thy spirit on 
its heavenward flight, and thy Father will meet thy return- 
ing steps, and around thee shed eternal glory. 

116. Think not that because thou art poor, lowly, and 
humbly born, that it is more difficult for thee to approach 
God, or for his voice to cheer thee on thy way homeward. 

117. To labor in God's vineyard on earth is a blessed 
mission. 

118. If the soil be not turned, and fed, and cleaned, how 
will the fruits grow ? "Weeds, briers, thistles, and all man- 
ner of fruitless things, will take the place wherein should 
grow good yielding plants. 

119. Man hath wandered, and in his wanderings hath 
perverted the sweets of labor into drudgery. Man was 
never intended to labor with his hands, save as a means of 
pleasant gratification. 

120. Yet leaving his Father's wisdom, and striving to 
institute his own selfish gratification in its place, he hath 



318 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

brought upon himself the necessity of laboring. And in 
the necessity is the restraint which maketh labor to be dis- 
agreeable. 

121. If man err, God forgiveth. If he depart, God 
seeketh to induce his return. If he be willful, God is 
merciful. 

122. If he be good, God rewardeth him. If he be not 
good, his reward is in proportion to his deserts. "Whatso- 
ever he does, God remains the same. 

123. Then if he hath departed and brought upon him- 
self the necessity of laboring, let him so labor as to insure 
his speedy return. 

124. And if thou dost seem to labor on earth without re- 
ward, be not hasty in thy judgment. God is beside thee, 
and knoweth all. 

125. If man do seem unjust and most selfish, think not 
that God is thus changed toward thee. 

126. Be true unto God, and he will be just unto thee. 

127. If thy mission be to labor in the outward, and thou 
art faithful in thy calling, thy exaltation will equal any 
equally faithful in any mission. 

128. If thou dost use the Pick, the Hammer, or Plow on 
earth, think not that they will keep thee from the Throne 
of God. 

129. Faithfulness is alone worthy of reward, which re- 
ward is in the faithfulness. 

130. If thou dost forget God and worship thy trade, call- 
ing, or implements used therein, do not expect to be ex- 
alted in the Heavens. 

131. All employments which are used to glorify God are 
good. 

132. All goodness is honorable, because God dispenseth 
goodness unto all of his creation. 

133. Then think not that if thy daily toil covers thee 
with dust outwardly, that thou art therefore condemned 
inwardly. 

134. There is no condemnation which man does not feel. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 319 

If he know not duty, he knoweth not the condemnation, if 
the duty be not performed. 

135. Oh, man, howsoever lowly thou art, still thou art a 
child of God, and by him loved ! Around thee he sheds 
his own radiant Light, that thou mayest fulfill thy task 
faithfully on earth. Within thee is heard his own voice, 
calling unto thee, "Keturn, child of my love, return." 

136. The Good One is not a hard Master. He is a kind 
Father. He is Wisdom's Creator ; and if thou seemest 
unto thyself most foolish, this feeling is truer wisdom than 
if thou didst think thyself better. 

137. The proud and selfish may teach their selfish doc- 
trines unto thee, but theirs is the fault if thou be truly 
ignorant. 

138. If thou dost aspire after true godliness, all their 
striving to teach will not depress thy knowledge of God. 

139. Be ever on thy guard. The man who raises his 
own fleshy monument highest, does so at the expense of 
most flesh. 

140. He who grasps most tightly outward wealth is 
merely holding himself firmest on to earth, which earth 
can be of no value unto his spirit after the body de- 
cays. 

141. The poor and ignorant are deluded by the teachings 
of the few, who hold fast the wealth and positions or sta- 
tions on the earth. 

142. Art thou so ignorant as to not see, that if thou dost 
not minister unto his wants he must labor as thou ? 

143. He is bound by necessity as thou art. He liveth 
on the same earth, among the same laws, and is at last 
accountable unto the same God and Father. 

144. If thou diclst not value his outward possessions 
they would be valueless unto him. The earth supplieth 
you both with food, and raiment for the body, and God 
feedeth your spirits equally as you can comprehend his 
wisdom. 

145. If in God's Love ye both enjoy the same privileges, 



320 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

and in his eternity outside be valueless, then why consider 
thy brother above thee ? 

146. If he be a better man than thou art, surely he is 
above thee ; if not, he can not be. 

147. Always feel within thyself that thou art right, and 
thou canst never err. 

148. Whatsoever thou dost feel to be thy duty, do, and 
leave the rest with God. 

149. Love to wait upon thy Father in Heaven. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

1. The Tiller of the Soil can as well wait upon God as 
the one who in pure strains of harmonious words or tones 
hath had his birthright given. 

2. As his Plow turneth the soil, and the seed is sown, 
and the harvest reaped, his voice, his mind, his spirit, all 
can glorify God his Creator. 

3. Elevation, true exaltation, is an inward task. 

4. If of the earth's ample yield thou canst offer sacrifice* 
unto its Creator, thou art blessed. He looketh not upon 
the offering, but upon the spirit in which the sacrifice is 
made. 

5. Offer up the fruits of thine harvest, the first and best 
unto God, for he is indeed first and best of all. 

6. Let thy shrine be man. Bring forth thy fruits to 
satisfy his wants, act in pure charity, and thy offering is 
acceptable unto God. 

7. The earth is rich in plenty. The Storehouse of Nature 
is filled with the productions of her ample fields. 

8. All things below man receive nourishment to suffi- 
ciency from this great garner. He, in common with all 
of earth, satisfieth his earthly cravings ; yet there is a 
higher and holier food from Nature's God derived, than all 
the earth's richness combined. 

9. If thou dost assist nature to supply thy wants, and 
the wants of thy fellow-man, surely God will assist thee in 
all thy eternal wants. 

10. If from a barren soil thy wise applications can bring 
more abundant fruit, surely this is good. 

11. And if thou canst aid the tree in its yield, and thus 

21 



322 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

in reality supply more wants than the tree without thy 
wisdom, the superabundance giveth thee credit. 

12. If by use of stimulants, by bringing different earths 
and soils together, thou canst increase the yield of that 
already fertile, this must bring results honorable unto thee. 

13. No thing of earth composed can leave it. The For- 
ests on the mountain top sink their roots among the rocks, 
and upward rear their straight, strong shafts. Their 
branches draw up from the earth nourishment, which, 
combined with the light and air, bring forth the deep, 
thick foliage. 

14. The winter cometh, and with nipping cold severs the 
clothing, and it returneth to the earth. The winds carry 
the remnants of faded beauty down the mountain's side 
into the valley below. The rains fall upon them, imbed- 
ding them in the soil whence cometh the strong grass and 
nourishing plants. 

15. Time hews down the forest Sires to replace by de- 
composition that which was taken to compose the roots, 
shafts, and branches. These sustain their growing children 
by imbedding their dissolving trunks among the rocks in 
which the hungry roots are seeking, thus ending their 
individual outward mission. 

16. Thou canst not add unto the earth or its powers. 
Thou canst by skillful combinations increase the yield of a 
given portion of it, but the things combined are earthy. 

17. The Rains fall upon the mountain, and carry down 
in torrents the atoms of soil therefrom. The valley is filled 
with decaying substances, the Light shineth upon it, and 
life cometh forth from the dead and dying. 

18. The Sands of the Desert combined with the valley's 
rich soils yield from the sown grain abundant fold. 

19. The Sand's barrenness stimulates in return the sweet- 
ness of the rank, rich soil, and it produceth more abund- 
antly than alone. 

20. If thou dost till the soil, strive to understand that 
iamong which thou dost labor. Strive to increase thy prac- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 323 

tical knowledge, that thus thou canst give thy body ease, 
and render thy spirit service in its striving to ascend. 

21. Thy Plow may harden thy hands, but it should 
soften thy heart by bringing thee in contact with the soft 
sunlight and pure air. And as thou dost guide it through 
the dewy grass, turning numberless blades and spears of 
green beauty into an untimely grave, thou hast ample time 
for reflections above the earth thou art turning. 

22. As thou dost walk over the fields in which the grain 
is growing strongly, and as the warbling birds greet thee 
everywhere, thou art surrounded by thoughts whose simple 
beauty, if simply written out, would immortalize thee. 

23. The Harvest fills thee with joy. The Corn is bright 
and yellow, inviting thee to enter in and reap thy reward. 

24. How beautiful the waving grain as upon it glances 
the brilliant rays of the summer sun ! The Old enlivened 
by the sweet smiles of the Young ! Life's sunset should 
ever be bright and lovely as the termination of the 
Harvest. 

25. And when the harvest is gathered home, then is the 
well-earned feast partaken of. Such the termination of a 
well-spent life. 

26. He who plants and reaps for the glory of God is 
himself reaped by the Sickle of Death, to feast through 
eternity on the golden grain safely laid up in the Father's 
Garner. 

27. Remember the King of the Harvest. Even as thou 
dost enjoy thy harvesting of the good rich grain, so doth 
the king enjoy the calling home of the good and faithful 
harvesters. 

2 . As the harvest doth reward thy outward faithful- 
ness, so will thy Father reward thy inward holiness. 

29. Grasp thy plow with thy hands, but with thy mind 
and spirit grasp the^ eternal truths of God. Let not thy 
plow bury beneath its every furrow some bright hope of a 
glorious future. Such seed would bring thee fruits of bit- 
terness and discontent. 



324: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

30. As thou dost sow earthly seed, thou dost reap an 
earthly harvest. Sow spiritual seed all thy life, and long 
ere its earthly termination will its path be beautified by 
the fruits thereof. 

31. And after thou art called hence, thou wilt see the 
fields laid out, furrowed and planted by thee, ripe and 
waiting for thee to enter in and enjoy unto all eternity. 

32. Spiritual harvests are the product of eternal attri- 
butes of God. As thou art rewarded on earth for thy 
labor thereon, so wilt thou be rewarded in Heaven for thy 
goodness thereon. 

33. Goodness is the spiritual field of labor. 

34. As thou art careful to have thy grain clean and 
good with which to sow the earth, so be thou careful to 
have thy eternal fields sown with that which can never die. 

35. He who wasteth time by seeking naught but earthly 
fruits, will, at death of his body, be hungry for the fruits 
of Heaven. 

36. If thou dost not sow, thou wilt not reap. 

37. If thou dost sow, yet do not cultivate the seed, the 
surrounding briers will choke and stint its growth. 

38. If thou dost sow thistles, thou wilt be pricked by 
their sharp points. 

39. If thou hast ignorantly sown poor seed, strive to 
increase its fold by proper cultivation. 

40. Obtain seed that suits thy soil. All seed will not 
grow equally well on any given soil. Study the capability 
of thy soils. Do not adhere too strictly to any given seed 
unless thou hast faithfully tried it and been well rewarded 
in the harvest's yield. 

41. Study the requirements of thy seed and the capabil- 
ity of the soil in which thou must plant. 

42. Thy neighbor's seed will not fit thy soil ; perhaps 
his seed yields better than thine ; then alter thy soil to suit 
thy seed so well as his suits his seed, and thy yield will 
equal his. 

43. The outward cultivation of soils, and planting and 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 325 

reaping of grain, is like unto the cultivation of the mind 
and its consequent harvests. 

44. All outward is but an illustration of all inward. 

45. As the inward hath been cultivated so ignorantly as 
to bring forth unsound fruits, so the outward cultivation 
hath brought forth fruits after the inner ignorance. 

46. Thou shouldst never forget that all is God's. All 
came from him. All was by him given. 

47. If thou art His steward, be just as He is just. Let 
thy strife be to exalt thyself and thy kind by all means 
within thy power. 

48. He giveth unto thee ; give thou unto thy kind. 
Thou art His distributor. All must from the soil receive 
food and raiment ; yet the food and raiment of Time are 
but a small portion of man's blessings. 

49. Man is progressive. He must change. Then in thy 
portion of His great name and being strive to change him 
evermore toward good. 

50. Are thy means limited, very limited ? Remember 
there is but One unlimited, and His charity is perfect. 

51. If thou hast ever the will and willingness to benefit 
thy kind, and should ever be hindered, as thou mayest 
think, thy willing spirit hath spoken a good word which 
hath not escaped the ear of the great and good Father. 

52. If all do their duty, there is no duty not performed. 

53. If no one do his duty, there is no duty performed. 

54. If part be faithful, the part is not condemned because 
other parts be unfaithful. 

56. Think not that only the greatly responsible can be 
worthy of great reward. As hath been said, a small mea- 
sure can be as full as the largest. 

56. Thou art not responsible for the soils of thy fields, 
but for the products thereof. 

57. If thou dost plant merely to reap, and reap merely 
to add unto thy outward wealth, thou art growing poorer 
every successive harvest. 

58. Oh, do not degrade thy noble calling into a drudgery 



326 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

disagreeable unto all who labor in it ! The highest seats 
in Heaven are as free nnto thee as any of God's children. 
Therein the most faithful are the most favored, because he 
who is most faithful imto his calling develops his spiritual 
perceptions most. 

59. Thy calling was the first Man labored in, and in out- 
ward usefulness is still first of all employments. 

60. It driveth want away from the animal man, as 
knowledge of God's love and truth doth remove want from 
the inner and ever-living spiritual man. 

61. Thy labor imitateth the labor of God. Thy outward 
employments feed the outward. And to further imitate 
him, thy inward should feed thy brother's spirit with lov- 
ing sympathy, 

62. Thou dost move among men who live forever ; and 
canst thou not speak a word to each one, which will be as 
a seed dropped in the fertile soil, grow, strengthen, and 
bring forth abundantly ? 

63. In thy daily conversation give plain, simple instruc- 
tions unto thy lowly companions. They listen better unto 
thy spiritual teachings than unto any other, for thou art in 
affinity with them, and they know thou art honest and 
sincere. 

64. Teach them that the seed must have a cause, and 
prove the goodness of the cause by the fruits thereof. 

65. Show them that the light of the day and the dark- 
ness of the night blend in all things, producing light of life 
and darkness of death. 

66. The Seasons, as they help them till, sow, cultivate, 
and finally reap the golden grain ; thou canst bring as great 
proof of their Father's never-ending Love. 

67. If thy kind be lowly thy field is larger, and only 
requireth of thee higher and holier labor. 

68. If they were not ignorant, they could not be taught ; 
being ignorant, to teach them is thy duty, if thou knowest 
more of truth than they. 

69. The more thy land requires cleaning, the more most 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 327 

thou labor to clean it. The less it prodnceth, the more 
must thou labor to make it produce abundantly. 

TO. And among thy lowly kind the same is equally 
truth. 

71. The less they know, the more is knowledge required, 
and the more labor is necessary to impart it unto them. 

72. And if thou canst not increase their knowledge a 
hundred fold, the striving to increase it all thou canst, hath 
rendered thee a faithful servant of thy Father. 

73. All knowledge is God's, and if thou canst teach some 
of it unto thy lowly kind, thou art blessed. 

74.. Love seeketh its gratification in action. Love is 
never idle. 

75. If thou dost love thy kind, do them active service, 
and be thankful thy field is so large. 

76. Surely to clean and plant a large field if thou hast 
power, is worthy a larger amount of labor, and more care 
in the labor. 

76. Whereas if thou dost expend great labor on the 
small field, though it produce well, still the yield can never 
equal that of the large field equally tilled and planted. 

77. Thus thou canst see that if thou art faithful in thy 
humble sphere, thy faithfulness exalts thee, whereas if un- 
faithful, thou dost reap the tares and thorns of negligence. 

78. Humility hath a wide field for labor. It exalteth 
every man. The highest are low compared with God. 
Oh, then, view thyself as one of his children, and for all 
things learn to praise him. 

79. His knowledge doth not cease when human channels 
are full, but ever floweth outward, that the thirsty may 
drink, and the full rejoice in its pure strength. 

80. Then imitate Him ; let thy knowledge flow, as the 
pure waters through the meadowy fields, giving strength 
and freshness unto all around and near thee. 

81. Thy eyes may never view distant lands, they may 
never even scan the page of knowledge as by a brother 
penned, yet around thy humble cottage door are beauties 



328 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

which pen can never express, nor distance render more 
lovely. 

82. Thy humble home hath beauties in it which crowned 
heads may well envy thee. Thou dost recline upon no 
downy couch, art wrapped in no costly garments or robes, 
yet upon thy spirit falls the pure slumber thy labor hath 
earned. 

83. Thy body resteth, and thou dost come forth to meet 
the morning sun with a smile full of peaceful contentment. 

84. Thy true and tried Partner, whom thou thinkest 
little lower than the angels, is thy Ideal all. The Health 
that paints thy children's cheeks, thy own strong man- 
hood, are these naught to be proud of? Ay, honest man, 
thou mayest be blackened and burned by the summer sun, 
but we tell thee thou hast around thee guards stronger than 
the highest, with all their pomp and pride ! 

85. Bare thy brow to the breeze and thy arm to the 
sun's bright rays, and drink daily health as thy reward. 

86. The mighty of earth forsake their wealth, and after 
thy earned health and strength seek in vain. They envy 
thee thy enjoyment as much as thou dost them their luxu- 
rious ease. 

87. They seek in vain for that which cometh to thee 
smiling in every flower, and balmy in every breeze. They 
have unstrung their being by inactivity of mind and body, 
and the winds blow across the strings producing a sickly, 
jarring strain. 

88. Thou dost follow thy team in happiness. Thou dost 
patiently earn thy food, and thankfully partake of it. 

89. He that would strive to live an inactive life is striv- 
ing just so much against his own happiness. 

90. Activity is neither confined to spirit, to mind, nor to 
body. 

91. The abuse of activity is its own confinement in any 
particular sphere of action, at the expense of other spheres 
of action. 

92. If man exercise only his spiritual powers on earth, 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 329 

and confine their activity alone to the spiritual portion of 
the brain, disease will follow, and there is danger of a de- 
thronement of reason. A healthful activity is the regulator 
of the whole man. 

93. The danger with thy calling is, that thou wilt cease 
to cultivate the powers of thy spirit and mind, and thus 
run into the opposite extreme, which will let them rust, as 
it were, for want of use. 

94. Thou dost become as the seasons, fixed in thy yearly 
and daily rounds, arid if thou art content to do thy duty, 
in whatever season thou leavest the earth, the very fields 
will bless thy entrance into a happy eternity. 

95. And the bright fields of Heaven, wherein thou hast 
planted high aspirstions, pure thoughts, kind words, and 
loving smiles, will welcome thee as their own favorite 
master. 

96. And around thy new cottage door will heavenly 
vines cluster, and sweeter flowers will bring holier fruit 
unto thy enraptured senses. 

97. Thou wilt have new neighbors with joyous faces, 
across which the frown never passeth, nor falls the bitter 
tear. Angels will sing to thee of still holier joys, and 
troops of little children visit thy garden-plot to cull the 
never-dying flowers. 

98. Around about thee will fall the Light of purest es- 
sence, and thou wilt hear His Holy voice who did call and 
doth now reward thee. 

99. Heavenly happiness and purity are worth striving 
for. Thy earthly yield may fail from causes beyond thy 
control, but thy Heavenly treasures must ever increase as 
thou dost become more and still more pure. 

100. Oh, gird thy strength about thee, Husbandman, 
and with the plowshare uproot all the roots of bitter pas- 
sions and deadly hatred ! 

101. Let thy actions prove thou art a Man in the highest 
and holiest sense of the exalted name. 

102. The weapons used by the earthly " great" will yet 



330 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

be buried beneath thy fields, and used to turn the soil 
from barrenness to fertility beneath thy guiding hand. 

103. The deadly weapons of hatred must be blunted and 
entirely changed by the mild, strong hand of love. 

lOi. And as thy occupation was first on earth, so shall 
it be last, and thou wilt take the seat of true greatness 
never to be dethroned, for around thee will securely sit the 
guards of the true greatness, thy own humble kind. 

105. A sturdy, manly group are they to look upon. 
Broad brows, strong frames, and muscles like unto the 
strength of tools they wield. 

106. They blend their labor with thine, and as thou dost 
labor to feed them, they labor to clothe thee, and to sur- 
round thee with comforts thou hast not learned to produce. 

107. They all unite with thee in the building of the 
mighty Temple of outside comfort, and with thee they 
mingle their inward peace and plenty. 

108. As God did blend you all in affinity, and as he did 
by his love implanted within your every spirit confer upon 
you high and pure enjoyment, so should ye iinblend and 
unite your outward occupations and your inward enjoy- 
ments. 

109. You should stand side by side upon the great sup- 
porter of your outward wants and supplier of your out- 
ward joys, and with faithful obedience unto God journey 
on toward the lovely home he hath prepared for you. 

110. Worship only God. Your brother man is only his 
child, and in his image created, always worthy of love, but 
never of adoration. 

111. Within your broad chests as manly spirits dwell, 
and within your brows center thought's rays as purely as 
within the breast and brow decked with a golden crown or 
wrapped in softest mantle. 

' 112. Then why, oh, ye emblems of manly strength, why 
envy a brother his weakness ? Why do ye forget your true 
nobility and its source to serve an earthly worm ? 

113. To serve man's spirit with truths congenial is most 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 331 

noble, but to minister unto his depraved passions is un- 
worthy an honest child of God. 

114. If thou dost from the earth rear up the homes for 
thy kind, and canst fill them with lasting comforts, surely 
this would be good and worthy. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

1. He who wields The Builder's Tools, in their varied 
usefulness, must at every stroke impart some new good 
unto his kind. 

2. The Architect is as a tree, and as a tree is builded. 

3. Around, his earthly foundation the lower-developed 
organizations can labor, the shaft is thereon stood, the 
branches grow, put forth in leaf, completing all the man in 
the symmetrical proportions. 

4. Order, regularity, and strength combine in beauty. 

5. The Stone-cutter must have his Chisel and his Ham- 
mer tempered well, ere he commence his work, else, per* 
chance, he lose time when time is most needed in the 
building. 

6. He must select his stone with great care. If he be 
wise, the foundation upon which he designs to build will 
be either the substantial earth, compressed by ages, and 
never found miry, or else will be the solid rock, uniting the 
surface of the earth in solid strength. 

7. In the base he must have the heaviest, broadest, and 
most perfect stones, for herein and hereon will come the 
trying pressure. 

8. If the superstructure fall beneath the raging tempests 
of time, the rubbish can be cleared away, and tfpon the 
firm foundation be reared a new and beautiful structure. 

9. If the foundation be faulty, and crumble away, the 
higher portions of the temple, having nothing solid to rest 
upon, will be in constant danger of falling. 

10. And herein view the wise regulations of thy Heav- 
enly Father. He hath thus imbedded great and mighty 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 333 

truths in the inanimate stones thou dost use in thy daily 
labor. 

11. If within thy spirit thou hast not made the good 
foundation to be a resting upon God's wisdom, but hast 
carelessly builded upon error's quicksands, thy house will 
fall. 

12. And if thou hast been careless about the wants of 
thy spiritual nature, and upon thy passions hast poured 
out thy strength, thy temple is not of truth, and can not 
stand. 

13. Have thy base upon the rock of God's Truth, and in 
thy foundation stones of the same strong and solid nature, 
and in vain will the elements beat upon thee. 

14. If in thy after life thou shouldst stumble Irom negli- 
gence, remember, the rubbish can be cleared away from 
thy good base, and have added unto it new and truthful 
beauties. 

15. Whereas, as thou hast seen, if thy spirit set to work 
wrongly, that is, if it seek of changing earthly things to 
build its Heavenly Temple, there being no affinity between 
spirit and matter, the building will not endure. 

16. Thou wouldst never put rolling stones in the base 
of thy outward house, but would have them well shaped, 
square, broad, and large. Then if so careful of thy out- 
ward house, why so careless of thy inward inhabitant? 

17. Thou dost labor most carefully for the outward com- 
fort of thyself and thy kind, and dost seem to forget that 
there is a labor within thee which is far more necessary 
unto thyself and those around thee. 

18. Dost thou not see the fleshy habitations passing daily 
unto earth, whence they came ? Art thou so blind as to 
not see that earth returneth unto earth ? 

19. Thy outward employments merely strengthen and 
sustain thy outward body ; whilst within thee there is eter- 
nal employment, which will give eternal enjoyment, if 
thou art true unto thy highest aspirations. 

20. Thou dost dress thy stones, and art most careful to 



334 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

have them true, in order to please thy brother's taste in 
such matters ; and yet within thy interior dwelling will be 
found the fruits of inward carelessness. 

21. Thus canst thou become an outward builder, but 
never an inward enjoyer. Thus thou dost become as 
mechanical as the tools thou art using in thy occupation. 

22. Thou dost thus descend the scale of Intelligence, and 
in so doing dost reap a lowly reward. 

23. Surely it were better to thinJc, and enjoy thus man's 
highest gift, the understanding of his own existence, than 
to labor only with thy hands for only thy animal support. 

24. If thou art ignorant, thou hast no affinity for the 
wise ; and he is most ignorant who thinketh least. Thou 
art a man, and as such, thy very pride should raise thee 
and thy lowly kind higher in the scale of progression, by 
stimulating that feeling within which ever raiseth man to- 
ward his God. 

25. And if in thy outward thou wouldst excel, thy inward 
must lead the way. 

26. Thou canst not build true buildings without having 
their true outlines represented within thee. 

27. A sincere desire to benefit thy kind is always a firm 
staff to lean upon, and one which will not only support 
thee on earth, but in the Heavens stay thee. 

28. With what pride thou dost view the production of 
thy hand, as the home of earthly man, in obedience to thy 
skill, is raised ! Thou canst make the very stones proclaim 
strength without and comfort within. 

29. And shouldst thou, oh, Architect, by whatever name 
called, cease thy labor with the stone and wood thou dost 
use? 

30. As thou dost produce outside strength, so does the 
act of producing give thee outward powers of endurance. 
And as thou dost make the inside of thy dwelling comfort- 
able unto thy outward, should not thy inward enjoy of that 
serene pleasure which never cometh outwardly? 

31. Beware that in building thou dost not cease to be 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 335 

builded. Do not pile stone upon stone without ever think- 
ing that thou art not a stone. 

32. Do not make smooth thy wood, and carve it into 
numberless devices, without thinking that there is a higher 
plane of thought than that required for outward employ- 
ments. 

33. Thy employment is most honorable and useful, yet 
is it of earth and most earthy, if thou dost divest it of its 
inner cause. 

34. Machines can be constructed by the combination of 
causing forces, of thought, and of outward material, to 
almost build that which thy hand doth do. And as thou 
dost reduce thyself by unthinking action, so in the same 
proportion art thou descending the scale of real usefulness. 

35. To excel in the outward, thou must first excel in thy 
inward, for outward is but a result thereof. 

36. Thy building will not stand without thou dost cement 
it firmly, piece by piece, into an individual whole. If thy 
cement be not good, then must each part be separate and 
distinct from all other parts, and the building will always 
be unfitted for habitation. 

37. Thou art most careful to use good cement in thy 
outward labor, yet in the very labor thy inward cement 
will be weakened if thou dost not be most careful. 

38. What use could thy powers be applied unto if the 
spirit-cement be removed, or what could the spirit itself 
accomplish without being cemented unto God by his own 
holy Love? 

39. Oh, laborer, whilst binding thy outward beams, and 
uniting thy outward materials of all kinds into one harmo- 
nious structure, forget not that thou art the most noble of 
all structures, and should be most harmonious. 

40. Thou wert builded by an eternal God, and must unto 
eternity endure a monument unto the Builder's fame, or 
by selfishness confine thyself to earthly name and earthly 
glory. 

41. Thy actions in life should have Love in their nature, 



336 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

and thus would they become the temple of Truth, as endur- 
ing as that of which they were constructed. 

42. If thou dost act without love, though thou mayest 
perform outward duties, the stones will be, as it were, sep- 
arated, and the building will be most weak. 

43. Whereas, if love doth dwell within thee, thy every 
act is added unto thy eternal Temple, and firmly cemented. 

44. Let thy outward labor be but as a result of thy 
inward spiritual labor. Thy desires regulate thy being and 
its enjoyments. If thou dost desire to do thy kind good, 
the essence of the desire is of God, and hath already within 
thyself produced its fruit. 

45. And when this desire becometh shaped in outward 
habitations which shield the outward forms of thy kind 
from suffering, the outward fruit — a result grown from the 
inner spirit-seed — shall exalt thee. 

46. If thou dost perform thy outward labor for outward 
glory, inward condemnation must follow. 

47. Thou art worthy of thy hire, but the hire is never 
worthy of worship. 

48. If thou dost only strive to excel, that thou mayest 
reap an earthly reward, be it larger or smaller, it can not 
exalt thee in the Heavens. 

49. Thou dost erect Idols and worship them if thy spirit 
be unheeded in its directions unto thee in thy daily employ- 
ments. If thou dost build a beautiful temple, and it does 
not represent thy spiritual being in condensation, the spirit 
is not thereby glorified. 

50. Thy labor should be thy daily worship of God. Thy 
every thought should glorify him, and thy every resultant 
word and action would carry the impress of thy high desire 
unto thy lowly kind. 

51. Thou art a temple in which God should by thee be 
worshiped, and from whom should come through thy 
windows and door the Light of his own holy countenance. 

52. The outward column must be truly dressed, and must 
be erected upon a firm foundation. Piece by piece must 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 337 

be cemented firmly unto one another. The beautiful cap 
that renders the whole most beautiful, and completes the 
majestic proportions, is firmly cemented in its place, and 
thou dost stand and view the work most admiringly. 

53. It is thy labor, and if thou art not careful, it becomes 
thy Idol also. 

54. There is an inward glory which all thou doest should 
enhance. Thy column should be but as a dead shaft 
around which thy spirit circles, as the Ivy, upward and 
onward toward God. 

55. "What credit is the outward Earth unto thy inward 
spirit ? As such purely, it is no credit at all ; yet if the 

' desires of the Architect circle round it, then the winding 
vine ascends toward the God whose fruit they are, and 
unto whom they should give pleasure. 

56. He who desireth to do God's will, must do it in the 
very desiring; and canst thou not desire? Oh, lowly one, 
thy humility alone can exalt thee ! 

57. Do not think that lowly outside circumstances are 
a great favor in God's sight, for it is inward humility which 
alone commenceth exaltation. 

5S. Thou mayest be poor in the outward, and still most 
poor in thy spiritual being also, for God doth not judge 
thee by that which is beyond thy control. 

59. Humility before God is not regulated by outside 
cares, but by inward trustful aspirations. 

60. Aspire after humility, and thou wilt be exalted. 

61. A lowly station in outward circumstances is not a 
humble one before God. 

62. He who presumes upon his lowly outward, to be 
careless of his inward, spirit, commits as great an error as 
though he were the ruler of all the earth. 

63. His cares are no worse nor harder to bear than the 
temptations that ever surround the Ruler. And hence, did 
he receive favor above his deserts, the other would have 
cause of complaint. 

64. Teach thy kind to not war with outside cares, but 

22 



338 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

with inside temptations, that in overcoming they may be 
worthy of taking a higher plane in the endless scale of 
progression. 

65. Show them that they should build within themselves 
the eternal temple, whilst engaged in outwardly building 
habitations for time. 

66. They should view man but as a product outwardly 
of similar substances unto those they use in building. 
And as they know that a tenantless house is cold and 
dreary, teach them that the body is their house which will 
be tenantless when the lease on earth expires. 

67. Learn them to value the tenant more than the tene- 
ment. Show them that while they build for man, God 
will build for them if they desire his holy aid. 

68. As they are unselfish in their outward lives, so do 
they attract their Father's Love to come and dwell within 
them. 

69. As they do strive to know the truth, it will come to 
them, and their love one for another shall cement them 
together as a band of affinity eternal. 

70. Let them unite their strong bodies in most honorable 
labor, and their spirits in most high and holy enjoyments^ 

71. Become a temple outside, and a band of spirits inside 
shall feast of love. Around the top shall circle the pure 
light of God's Intelligence, and as ye ascend upward to- 
ward him, purer rays of light giveth higher knowledge and 
holier enjoyment. 

72. Thus, in the end, will ye find that temples erected 
unto God by your inward goodness shall redound unto 
your glory. 

73. God is not selfish ; labor for him, and your reward 
commenceth instantly, for within man is his only reward. 

71. If man in his selfish pride despise thee because of thy 
outer circumstances, he proveth himself a worshiper there- 
of, and thou shonldst pity him. 

75. However degraded in another's sight, or even in thy 
own sight, God ever remaineth thy loving Father. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 339 

76. It were far better for the outward building to crush 
thy body than for thy body to crush thy spirit into a lower 
sphere. 

77. Happiness being an inward feeling derived through 
the spirit, must not be sought in the materials of the house 
in which the spirit liveth. 

78. You would not build houses if there were none to 
live in them, neither would God have builded your bodies 
and placed your spirits within them if the inhabitant had 
not been above that inhabited. 

79. Seek after spiritual enjoyment, and bodily enjoyment 
must result therefrom. Whereas if ye only seek the grati- 
fication of your animal nature, the spiritual nature must 
suffer from inaction. 

80. Eaise high your ideas, and your bodies will follow 
them in nobler actions. 

81. Is it not noble to bring forth comfort and enjoyment 
from inanimate stones and dead wood % Surely to thus 
combine the earth into blessings unto your kind is far 
more noble than to do nothing, or worse than nothing, by 
perverting your powers. 

82. As ye labor with your hands, keep your mind em- 
ployed with thought. If your physical, mental, and spir- 
itual powers be not all exercised, you are not filling your 
mission properly. 

83. You are blessed by being able to exercise thought 
of the highest order, while your hand may be building the 
lowliest hovel. 

84. No man is so poor he can not think, and he can not 
honestly think without gaining knowledge, for he expands 
the perceptive powers of his mind, and in so doing proves 
the way for still greater thoughts, which result in still 
greater knowledge of truth, and thus can he steadily ascend 
toward God. 

85. The best workman is he who thinks most. 

86. Whilst the helpers pass their time in trifling conver- 
sation produced by trifling thoughts, he is silently laboring 



34:0 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

within his mind at that which is heavier than the stone to 
lift, and harder than the wood to carve — Truth. 

87. He labors on with hand and mind until the principle 
is understood, and then builds his machine, which takes 
the place of all those who despise the silent thinker. They 
seek another master who does not think so much or so 
effectually, and live out their trifling lives. 

88. The lowly in outside circumstances keep themselves 
in their condition by their own thoughtless negligence. 
If ye would rise high, ye must think high thoughts. 
Thoughts are only high as they are good. 

89. By thinking good thoughts ye enter unto affinity 
with all of God's works, and with himself, and conse- 
quently must grow and strengthen in all your parts even 
as the tree whose seed was good. 

90. Then if ye be lowly, blame not God nor man, but 
your individual selves, for there the blame must lie. 

91. If ye be good, ye must rise ; if not good, all nature 
and nature's God opposes you who have entered in opposi- 
tion unto them. 

92. The little rose by the wayside is as good as the high- 
est tree upon the mountain's top. The draught of water 
from the cool spring is as sweet as though from the great 
river thou didst drink. 

93. Then canst thou not be good and sweet even though 
lowly, very lowly in earthly possessions. 

94. Fill full thy mission which is all within thyself re- 
vealed. Be good unto thyself and thy kind. Be faithful 
unto God as his goodness shall within thee prompt, and 
though thou be his humblest child, all must be well on the 
earth and in the Heavens; in time and in eternity wilt 
thou reap a glorious and good reward. 

95. What happiness floweth within the spirit in harmony 
with its loving Father ! All cares vanish before His bless- 
ings as the dark fogs before the morning sun, and the heavy 
vapors become distilled into nourishing drops for the re- 
moval of unhappiness by the rays of His almighty Love. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 341 

96. Oh, man, to become happy, thou must be good. 

97. Whatever thy occupation, be good unto all, for 
herein consists true nobility. Ask no man to tell thee 
what is goodness, for that can not be done for thee. 
Thou must do that which is manifest within thee as thy 
duty, and thus thy highest goodness know, and, know- 
ing, do. 

98. A Good Father regulates all the creation, and hence 
to be in harmony with all, thou must first be in Harmony 
with Him. 

99. Oh, rest not thy faith upon man. God, the Eternal, 
is the only foundation thou canst build upon and have thy 
labor last. 

100. Thou wouldst laugh at an Architect who buikled 
his house upon a foundation which was unstable, or of 
quicksand composed. Thou wouldst know his labor must 
be all in vain. 

101. Then what dost thou think of one who buildeth 
upon time, forgetting eternity? Who buildeth upon earth 
in forgetfulness of God ? Is not this the most unstable 
building an immortal being can erect ? 

102. Do not cease to labor for God, because thou dost 
have to do drudgery for man. Be humble in spirit. Be 
just and loving unto thy kind, even though they all turn 
against thee. 

103. With God keep thyself pure, and man can never 
condemn thee. Upon his eternal rock rest thee ; and as 
thou dost add, day by day and year by year, new truths 
cemented by purer love, thou dost ascend higher and still 
higher, until with his own holy hand the column is crowned 
with a cap of Celestial glory. 

104. Thou dost arise from out the earth, and within the 
heavens art thou crowned complete. From the lowly 
board thy body was sustained, from simple truths thy 
mind was stored, and in the causing essences where purity 
sits in state, thou art welcomed home. 

105. Thy hardened hands and stiffened limbs have re- 



34:2 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

turned whence they came, and thy spirit is upward going 
in search of its great and good Creator. 

106. The muscles that thou didst wield on earth to help 
thee in thy mission, are now part of that sandy foundation 
upon which so many builded, but thou art free and high 
above them all. 

107. A smiling Father's welcome voice greets thine ear, 
and thou dost become the eternal guest of the great Je- 
hovah. 

108. Toil on, thou hard-handed son of God, through 
lowly cares and heavy trials ; thy Father knoweth all thy 
pain, he seeth all thy suffering, and verily his spirit yearns 
toward thee more than thine toward thy suffering little 
child. 

109. A hardened Hand and a softened Heart should be 
thy emblems before God and man. Unite them, and the 
badge of thy nobility will be hung high in the courts of 
Heaven. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

1. If thou have skill in the construction of materials for 
clothing thy kind out of that which otherwise were of less 
use, thou canst glorify thyself by useful labor. 

2. Thou canst from the Flax produce the cool Linen to 
keep away the scorching heat of the summer sun. Thou 
canst from the superabundance of the Sheep's Wool pro- 
duce the warm cloths for winter protection ; or thou canst 
from the thread of the Worm, wmo hath spun his life 
away, produce the beautiful silken fabrics to adorn thy 
kind. 

3. Thou canst with thy skill unite health and bodily com- 
fort around mankind, and with thy Shuttle and Staff pro- 
duce lasting happiness. 

4. All labor and skill in laboring is the result of truthful 
knowledge, which truthful knowledge is revealed in the 
result. 

5. As thy shuttle playeth, and as thread after thread is 
added unto thy web, thou art singing the song of Life. 

6. The web thou art weaving was food for worms. 
Worms wove their lives away in their mission of spinning. 
They filled their destiny, and were blessed by a glorious 
life, wherein all was enjoyment. 

7. They ate, spun, died, and, if undisturbed, came forth 
into new and lovely-hued life, flitting from flower to flower 
all the day long. 

8. Such their labor, and such their glorious reward. 

9. The Flax arises from the seed in earth into the strong 
stem, which blossoms and bears seed after its kind, to 
again descend into the earth and again bear. 



344 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

10. In its very death it giveth thee the strong material 
for thy labor. Thus dost thou turn, as it were, useless 
death into useful, comfortable life. 

11. The sheep pants in the summer sun ; and instead of 
wasting its warm winter clothing in the thorn-bush and 
among the mountain briers, thou dost ease it of its burden ; 
and when the winter cometh, thy kind bless thee for thy 
care. 

12. The sheep thanks thee for thy help to remove its 
load, and man thanks thee for thy skill in weaving the 
separate threads into beautiful warm clothing. 

13. As thy shuttle plieth, thou canst reflect upon the har- 
mony of want and its supply. 

14. The worm eateth of useless leaves — of that which 
were unto thee useless — and produceth therefrom that 
which were still useless without the application of thy 
knowledge, but which used by thee becometh still more 
" good" than otherwise it could be. 

15. The Flax or Cotton rise up, live, and die, and in 
death would rot away into the particles whence they were 
combined, didst thou not grasp them, as it were, from an 
untimely grave, and bid them live again as blessings unto 
man. 

16. And the warm wool scattered o'er the mountain 
bushes, and tossed by every wind, could not all be used 
by the little birds in building their nests. They will 
secure their share, and let thee reap the full fleece be- 
sides. 

17. The Thorn-bush and the Brier will care for the war- 
bler who singeth in their branches, and not a sheep shall 
crop their leaves without paying for them in wool. 

18. Thus see Nature exchanging, each one giving of its 
abundance unto another less gifted, and in return receiving 
other gifts in plenty ; thus view the "Web of Life, woven 
by God's attributes within the being of every thing, from 
the Atom unto Himself. 

19. And thou dost weave, and thy web is life. As God 



THE'HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 345 

hath through the creation run the thread of eternal life, 
giving unto all eternal enjoyment as the fruits of eternal 
labor, thou dost in imitation give outward enjoyment as 
the fruits of thy outward labor. 

20. God hath fed the worm. He hath clothed the sheep, 
and all the animals whence thou dost obtain food, for thy 
skillful hand. He hath grown the plants, which give thee 
abundantly of that they do not need. 

21. He hath made thee, and given all thy skill. He hath 
formed thy Loom — 'tis builded of his material. 

22. Then if thou dost use all of His, with thy independ- 
ent spirit free from all below, give him all praise. Thou 
art not a mere machine which turneth out mechanical pro- 
ductions. Thou art a man ; and if thou dost use God's 
good materials, let it be only for good unto man. 

23. Learn thy lessons of the things thou dost use. 

2-1. The patient, gentle sheep quietly grazes upon God's 
green pastures, and the very wool thou dost use should 
teach thee to labor patiently on earth, that thou mightst 
dwell in the green pastures, and upon the banks of running 
brooks, in thy eternal Fatherland. 

25. And surely the death of the cotton and the stalks of 
flax, giving, as it does, blessings unto thee and thy kind, 
should teach thee that after death of the outward, the true 
usefulness of the inward begins. 

26. Learn from them to let thy outward desires die, and 
thy inward come forth in newer glory and more beautiful 
combinations unto all eternity. Commence thy eternal life 
on earth. Weave the eternal band that eternal life sus- 
tains. Have its colors bright and lovely, that the angels 
may ever know thee. 

27. The worm teaches thee that to labor is to earn a 
bright and glorious reward. Labor for God, and thou wilt 
be buried in silken robes, as the worm ; but as the worm, 
thou wilt come forth in beauty rare to enjoy higher joys 
than worm hath ever measured. 

28. Thou wilt flit through the Heavens, where'er thy 



346 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

joy may lead, and from flower to flower that never fades 
thy spirit will wander. 

29. Thy web of true life is commenced on earth, yet in 
the heavens ended. Thou dost in the heavenly truths of 
God weave angelic robes, and o'er the Throne of Deity 
thou canst spread the mantle of celestial glory. 

30. Thy thread of Light, thy loom of Truth, and thy 
active shuttle of Love composed, thou wilt weave the robes 
of life eternal. Such are the robes of Deity. Such the 
angels wear, and such shouldst thou weave for man. 

31. Weave a Flag of these bright hues, and upon the 
walls of Purity plant it, as a signal unto thy lowly kind. 

32. Upon it place the words, " Love for the Lowly ;" 
and as they gaze upon its brightness, angels bright and 
pure will circle round them, encouraging messengers from 
God to lead the lowly home. 

33. Let the Staff be Truth, the Flag be Love, and the 
Letters living Light. 

34. As in all who labor outwardly, or with all who do 
not labor at all, there is great danger that thou wilt forget 
the valuable part within thee, and weave a net that shall 
hold thee down to earth. 

35. If thou dost worship the materials thou dost use, or 
that which they bring thee outwardly, every stroke of thy 
shuttle adds new strength to the meshes of the net sur- 
rounding thee. 

36. Thou wilt never weave robes for spiritual man if 
thou art only expert in making outward webs. It is good 
to clothe thy naked kind and shield them from the chilling 
blasts without. 

37. It is good to keep away the rays of the summer sun 
from burning them ; and it is good to adorn thy kind with 
that which creates a love for the beautiful within them. 

38. As thou dost labor for their outward enjoyment, 
labor also for their inward enjoyment. Show thyself an 
inward man as well as an outward mechanic. 

39. Surely thy fabrics would teach thee how to unite 



THE HEALING OP THE NATIONS. 347 

thyself with thy brethren, and them all into a band of lov- 
ing brothers. If faithful to thy manhood, thou canst never 
fall — if unfaithful, thou canst never rise. 

40. Thou dost use God's materials as thou knowest, and 
they, if left alone, would glorify him, and if used right- 
fully, they glorify thee — yet, if misused, they bring dishon- 
or unto thee, who hast interfered with them. 

41. The act of outwardly laboring is no credit or honor 
unto a man unless his spirit labors in the act. Thou 
mayest ever weave and never get above the bench thou 
art sitting on if within thee there is no aspiring after a 
higher labor and a higher reward. 

42. He who strives to benefit his kind is exalted, for 
God knoweth every circumstance that may oppose the ful- 
fillment of that which he striveth to perform, and he is just 
and merciful. 

43. Thou mayest think thou canst not benefit thy kind ; 
were it not as easy to think thou canst ? Think thou canst 
not ply the shuttle, and see how slowly it will move — then 
turn round thy mind and think it a joyful task, and it will 
almost fly beneath thy hand. 

44. As thou thinkest thou canst benefit thy kind, the 
thought smiles through thy face and adds unto the press- 
ure of thy hand as thou dost encourage a poor, despond- 
ing brother. 

45. A kind word from a lowly brother is ever a wel- 
come guest unto the suffering spirit. Canst thou not feel 
sympathy for the suffering, and canst thou not tell thy sym- 
pathy ? 

46. If thou dost feel for him in his pain or in his error, 
his spirit knoweth it the instant thou dost approach, and he 
hails thee as a friend, and thou mayest teach or soothe him 
more effectually than any other. 

47. Weave round thy kind the meshes of Love, and thou 
canst hold them in the right path. Thou canst teach them 
while within this soft band, and impart light unto their 
lowly minds. 



348 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

4S. Remember they are God's loved children ; and when 
thou art striving to elevate them, thou art thyself being 
elevated into a high position in his sight. 

49. God showed his care for thy spirit by clothing it 
with a body, and if thou dost clothe this body, remember 
that clothing and body are both secondary in God's view 
to the spirit. 

50. Be careful to not make thy kind worshipers of that 
thou dost manufacture. Ever teach them that as their 
clothing wears out and finally returns to earth, whence it 
came, the body clothed must also return to fill the vacancy 
caused by its extraction from the earth. 

51. Teach them that the spirit also returneth to the 
presence whence it came, and learn them to adore the God 
who gave it. Thou canst not sit still and labor exclu- 
sively outward, and yet retain thy position among men, 
who think and are governed by thought in action. 

52. If thou dost become a mere machine, men will super- 
intend and guide thy actions to suit. Thou wilt descend 
the plane of usefulness, becoming lower and still lower, 
until thou dost enter thy lowly bed of earth. 

53. It becometh every man to strive and ascend toward 
God, for if he do not, he will by negligence descend in the 
opposite direction. And as God giveth happiness unto all 
who seek him, and who obey his monitor within them, the 
opposite of this blessing must follow from the opposite 
course. 

54. Whatever thou dost work upon, let thy action be the 
result of high and holy aspirations. Thus would the every 
stroke of thy shuttle be a prayer whose worthiness would 
raise thee high above earthly looms, and in the heavens 
crown thee as the lowly one accepted. 

55. If thou dost labor without thy spirit's help, or at 
that which curbs thy spiritual progression, thou dost be- 
come as one walking about in the shroud himself had 
woven. 

56. Labor for the living, and the dead will never check 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 349 

thee ; whereas, if thou dost labor only for the dead, the 
living is ever against thee, arrayed in mighty strength. 

57. He who daily toils for daily food, should not forget 
that as outward bringeth outward, so doth inward bring 
inward. 

58. As the one is his just due, so is the other. 

59. The Laborer is worthy of his hire ; and if he hires 
his body out to man, the body receiveth its reward, but the 
spirit of man can never receive reward from man. 

60. Its labor is in man for God ; and as it labors, so is 
it exalted in that invisible world wherein purity only 
dwelleth. 

61. Ply thy shuttle nimbly, and sing thy song of life, 
but have that song composed of the elementary principles 
of that life which endureth. Thou mayest mystify thy out- 
ward labor by numberless lines and flowery webs, and 
completely puzzle the unskillful one ; but when thy inner 
mantle is woven, thou art revealed in all thy parts unto thy 
Master precisely as thou art. 

62. There is no knot, no figure, no beauty, or no defect 
which can remain an instant invisible unto Him, though 
thou canst hide thee from thy kind. 

63. Thy Body is thy Loom, and thy spirit plies the 
shuttle, regulates the threads, and turns out the robe of 
life which thou must wear. 

64. If the loom get out of order ; if the regulating power 
can not control it sufficiently, the robe will show by its 
quality all that was wrong. 

65. If the threads become tangled, break, and have to 
be tied together, the loom not only stops, but the cloth is 
full of knottings that make it rough unto the master's view, 
and he will in justice place thee among workmen of a lower 
order. 

66. If thou hast a difficult piece to perform ; if thou dost 
wish to reveal some beauties in thy robe that thou canst 
not unaided do, go to the master workman, and get him to 
instruct thee. 



350 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

67. With thy outward productions, if any difficulty 
occurs, thou art glad to receive instructions from thy em- 
ployer, in order to weave a good piece and receive a pro- 
portionate reward. 

68. Then be the same willing workman for God thou 
art for man, and thou wilt weave that which will merit his 
praise. 

69. As thou dost labor on, day after day and year after 
year, at the web of life, thou canst see a line drawn down 
through all thy actions ; on one side is light, on the other 
darkness. These mingle in thy robe, and the light exalteth 
and the darkness doth not. 

70. The white threads predominating, attract more light 
and reflect more brightly unto thy kind ; but if the dark- 
colored ones predominate, thou art seen, not by brightness, 
but by contrast with it. 

71. If thou hast commenced with the darkest colors in 
abundance, and the light ones but few, strive to improve 
upon the few, and thou wilt find them gradually growing 
larger and larger until the dark commencement is seen 
only as the foggy base of the mountain upon whose peak 
is the bright sunlight playing. 

72. Thou hast a loom of given power, a controller of 
known strength ; thou art laboring for one who is just, and 
what canst thou fear from darkness ? 

73. It is hard to labor all the long day to keep thy body 
alive ; it is very hard to' battle day by day with cold and 
chilling want. But, oh, man, thou art the child of One 
unto whom all is known, and he loveth thee for thy for- 
titude. 

74. He who copes bare handed with want, and battles 
starvation from his household, ever thanking God for 
strength and for his goodness, is greater far than he who 
leads thousands into bloody graves in search of earthly 
glory. 

75. God's glory must be fought for, but never with 
carnal weapons enter his battle field. Swords of light 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 351 

within the hands of truth shall battle for love in purity. 
The battle is ever unto the strong most glorious ; but none 
can be strong who are not in affinity with God, who alone 
is all strength. 

76. Oh, lowly one, thou who art in the garret, at thy 
loom, or in the cellar thy shuttle plying, bear thee up ; a 
God of mercy and of love looketh down from above, and 
knoweth all. 

77. If man stint and chide thee, turn to the poor man's 
Friend. God doth not change with the whims of man, and 
blessed are the lowly in spirit, for they are near unto him. 
He loveth thee, and as thou art faithful unto him and his 
requirements, so art thou blessed. 

78. Thou canst not overrate true Humility nor underrate 
selfish Pride. However poor thou art, thou canst have 
pride that will condemn thee, or however rich in worldly 
goods, thou canst have humility that shall exalt thee. 

79. God does not weigh in outside scales, nor does he 
judge thee by thy outside manufactures, but by that within 
thee, which regulates all both inward and outward. 

80. If thou wouldst learn to trust God for thy inward 
blessings as thou dost man for thy outward wants, thou 
wouldst receive daily gifts from him that would fill thee 
with most holy joy. 

81. Quickened by His spiritual communion, thou wouldst 
perform the most disagreeable tasks most cheerfully. Thou 
wouldst listen to wisdom that forever endureth. Around 
thee would circle a holy influence that the darkest cares of 
time could not dispel. Thou wouldst partake of eternal 
rewards even while surrounded with outward dust and 
rags. 

82. God doth not respect dust that stands between the 
spirits of his children and his Throne. Thy rags are not 
noticed by him ; thy soiled clothing, thy meager food, are 
not witnesses in thy favor, if thou dost degrade thyself by 
chafing against thy lot. 

83. If thou hast poor outward food, seek pure inward 



OJ'J. THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

food to nourish thee. If thy clothing be dirty rags, warm 
thee at the fire God hath lighted within thee, and though 
thy body freeze, its stiffened limbs can not keep thee out 
of Heaven. 

84. God doth not despise his own poor children. 

85. He loveth all, and strange it is that man should fear 
to trust him. The very threads thou dost use are proofs of 
his love, and couldst thou with enlarged understanding 
view the most trifling of thy good actions, inspired by 
good thoughts, attracted by a good spirit, thou wouldst see 
a web which man can never weave. 

86. -Weave good thoughts, and good actions will be the 
result. Never let within thy mind thoughts that can do no 
good, for surely it would be like weaving cloth from rotten 
thread — the piece produced would fall apart, and the time 
expended be lost forever. 

87. Thus thou canst see that thy robe of life should 
be woven in thy mind first. As it groweth, actions are 
produced which are as the body of the life, and all who 
see the body know that the thread was good which pro- 
duced it. 

88. Think happy thoughts, and a smiling face reveals 
them. 

89. Think thyself unhappy, and no one will approach 
thee cheerfully, being repulsed by the expression of thy 
countenance. 

90. Manufacture poor goods, and they will never bring 
a good price. 

91. Make thy mind good, and thy body's labor will bring 
a higher price than if the mind be not good. 

92. Then thou must see from this that thy mind's labor 
is the really valuable labor, and that unless thou canst first 
weave a good mind, thy cloth can not be good. 

93. Dost thou say that machinery can weave good cloth ? 
Then say also that mind first wove the machinery. 

94. Man makes machinery, and not machinery makes 
man, thou shouldst sav. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 353 

95. And if he make machinery that taketh thy drudgery 
from thy hands, think awhile, and he will want thee to 
superintend the machinery. 

96. As thoughts flow from thee freely and purely, around 
thee they form a mantle which mankind must see, and in 
seeing can but admire. Do thou labor within thy mind, 
and the drudgery of thy hands will be less irksome. Thou 
wilt ascend higher and still nearer purity, ever reaping 
within thy spirit that joy which only the enlightened spirit 
can comprehend. 

97. Manufacturer, whatever thou dost perform outward- 
ly, let it be prompted by a good desire. Kemember always 
that thou art judged more by thy spiritual actions than by 
those of thy body. 

98. Turn toward God, and strive to turn thy brethren 
also in the right direction. Dost thou think that Inspira- 
tion can not reach thee in thy lowly position ? Analyze 
that thought, and if in it thou dost find a sincere desire 
that Inspiration should enter thy spirit, in the portion 
earnestly desired hath it already entered. 

99. Thou hast moments when an inward peace indescrib- 
able enters thy spirit, thou dost forget the shuttle which 
seemeth to guide itself, and thou art above the earth and 
earthly cares, searching after the cause whence this spark 
of Heaven came. 

100. And is not this Heavenly Feeling true Inspira- 
tion ? Hath not the voice of God spoken unto thy spirit, 
and hath it not answered in tones of happiness ? Oh, 
thou knowest not thy privileges, nor thy Father's bless- 
ings. 

101. Thou hast listened unto man and forgotten the 
tones of God. Thou hast become lowly spirited and lowly 
minded, as well as lowly in thy outward position among 
men. But remember that God alone can raise thy spirit. 
Seek his aid, and as thy spirit riseth toward his presence, 
thy mind becometh more elevated, which in turn elevates 
thy body, and as a consequence, its outside position be- 

23 



354: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

cometh higher, raised by the true source of all eleva- 
tion. 

102. Thus begin with God thy Father aiding thee, and 
man will have to acknowledge thy true greatness. If thou 
dost heedlessly throw aside chances to ascend, blame only 
thyself. God wills everlasting goodness, and if thou op- 
pose his will with thy spiritual powers, as a consequence 
the goodness is repelled, and thou alone art to blame. 

103. Oh, let thy spirit ascend toward Heaven. Thy body 
labors almost of itself, so mechanical has it become in its 
daily occupations, and why should thy spirit lie dormant, 
or revel in erroneous thoughts, whilst the pure airs of thy 
Father-land are ever near thee ? 

104. Thy dirty cellar or heated garret should not turn 
thy brain and body into cells of similar nature, but, as the 
vine, which in the darkness starts to grow, thou shouldst 
seek the light ; and though only a small stalk at first is 
seen, as the warm sun-rays and refreshing showers fall upon 
it, strength increases, leaves come forth, and blossoms, fol- 
lowed by healthy fruit, adorn it with such beauties, that 
no one seeks the cellar-stalk to reprove the vine with its 
origin. 

105. And does not the vine deserve really more credit 
for its fruit than if planted in the pure, clear air, with 
all things conspiring to aid in its development ? Imitate 
the lowly vine, springing from thy cellar-home, and thou 
wilt, as the vine, be honored for thy fruits among. men, 
and for thy faithfulness in darkness God will shed upon 
thee the light of his divine countenance. 

106. Weave on, lowly one, but do not entangle thy 
spirit in thy earthly cares ; let it ever be free and clear 
of all restraint, and God will give thee joys that shall 
ever last and increase in brightness as thou dost ascend 
the plane of true knowledge, which is the plane of true 
progression. 

107. Onward and upward, drawing thy kind after thee, 
take thy course. God is at the top, waiting to bless thee ; 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 355 

and as thou dost approach nearer and nearer the end of 
thy earthly labor, still closer art thou unto purity and the 
eternal happiness which purity alone knoweth. 

108. Patiently pursue thy task. It is ended with life 
alone. Eternally labor as God, and, oh ! in thy labor let 
his voice be ever heeded, for he alone is thy Father, thy 
all-enduring and Eternal Friend. 



CHAPTEK XXV. 

1. If thou art a humble mao, thy occupation will never 
stand between thee and happiness. 

2. If thou art a lowly Printer, one who dispenses knowl- 
edge of others' producing unto thy kind, listen and receive 
instructions from the Source of knowledge. 

3. Thine is a noble calling ; and all callings are noble if 
goodness be manifested in them — otherwise true nobility is 
not in them. 

4. The Learned Man thinks and pens his thoughts. Thou 
dost take them, and with inanimate materials press out the 
living thoughts on inanimate paper. 

5. He plants the seed, as it were, and thou dost grow 
the grain and scatter far and wide the fruits thereof. 

6. His wisdom, without thy aid, would have but a small 
field for labor. His valuable life would be spent in pro- 
ducing that which thou canst perform in a few days or a 
few hours. 

1. And if thou art lowly, the highest come to thee, and 
through thy instrumentality are they immortalized. Sup- 
pose, as of old, printing were not known, where would be 
the facility of knowledge ? 

9. Demolish this Great Sun in man's firmament, and 
darkness, dread and drear, would enshroud him. He would 
wander about among the fields and woods, as one deprived 
of his sight who had gone astray. 

9. Men would write themselves blind, and few would or 
could know the truths they wrote. Disease and death 
would hang around, the themes of eternal solitude would 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 357 

be sung, and in ail things would enter the barrenness of 
night ! 

10. Surely God said, Let there be Light ; and that the 
light might do its work in the mind of man, his own holy 
spirit must have prompted the building of the Press and 
the making of Type. 

11. Thou art man's great stay on the road to knowledge. 

12. Thou dost print, oh, Press, that which feeds millions 
with food that can never die. They take thy fruits, which, 
though all the same to thee, are viewed by every individ- 
ual organization differently — thus feeding all as they desire 
to be fed. 

13. Thy Books pass away from thee, and if truth be 
therein, the truth must last ; and, as the trunk of the great 
tree, spread out into numberless branches, under which 
tired men of all classes can rest. 

14. Who could understand the great truths discovered 
by the distant Philosopher, without the magic aid of the 
Printing Press ? 

15. He might ; and his highly-favored friends know of 
his great learning, and his great goodness, but how very 
small the taper's glow beside the noonday sun of Printing! 

16. All science seeketh, too, this bright channel through 
which to pour truth's holy stream. 

17. Children are baptized in the Fount of Knowledge on 
earth, and lisp their thanks in childish prattle. 

18. As from their mothers' breast they draw the food of 
life, so from the Press do they obtain the knowledge of the 
life. 

19. The Press, 'tis true, is most inanimate, but the eter- 
nal truths pressed out in death are by their inner life rilled 
— even as man when Deity breathed into dust the breath 
of Life eternal. 

20. And as they read of truth's simplicity, and of its 
strength and enduring beauty, their mind becomes molded 
to suit the impression made upon it from without; and 
with their own spiritual power attached to this good mold, 



358 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

thousands of good and lovely sentiments strew their path 
through life, taking a higher plane and purer vision from 
the outward base. 

21. Yet if the child be permitted to mold his tender 
brain to errors which also have been pressed upon the 
view of man, he, as a natural consequence, can not get as 
good impressions, or reveal truths as beautifully as though 
his mind had been attuned unto truthful harmony. 

22. If the Press be out of order, the printer can not do 
credit unto himself in his labor, neither can the mind do 
credit unto the spirit within if it be twisted into erroneous 
shapes by constantly vibrating unto error. 

23. Parents who know this truth, would do well to keep 
away from the tender, youthful mind the nonsensical pro- 
ductions of minds too low to see beauties in plain, simple 
truths. 

24. If they want their children to be truthful and really 
good, and, as a consequence, loved by all, let them heed 
well the building of their press of mind. Get that shaped 
well after truth's outlines, and their own spirit will do the 
rest. 

25. Their little spirits are truthful and most loving. They 
should have simple representations of this truthfulness and 
this love ever around them, and not that which they in- 
stinctively know to be discordant to their natures, yet know 
not why. 

26. Thus trained in the tender years as the little sapling, 
they become in age as the mighty oak, which only the 
lightnings from Heaven can upturn or the limbs tear off. 

27. Thus reared aloft toward heaven, they take their 
way — walking with men, but communing with God. 

28. And if the Press, rightly used, can aid them upward 
and onward, is it not a noble staff? And if the staff be 
noble, is not the one who daily works thereat ennobled in 
the labor ? 

29. If he labor for the good of man, surely he is ex- 
alted ; if he labor to injure man, he is in the labor injured. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 359 

SO. Great thoughts flow through great minds, but the 
lowly printer, who multiplies these thoughts thousands 
fold by his manual labor, is too often forgotten by those 
who receive instructions from the labor of his muscles. 

31. True, he may scarcely comprehend the truths of that 
which he builds letter by letter and word by word, yet he 
doth labor, and the result of that labor is unto other minds 
good. 

32. As all who labor with their muscles, revealing the 
first cause — labor in mind — he should receive his j List rec- 
ompense from those benefited thereby. 

33. Friend, thy press will print in any type thou dost 
properly adjust within it. It will print the lowest senti- 
ments or the highest, errors or truth, and through ail main- 
tain its own rigid truthfulness. 

34. Thou art animate, and not, as the Press, a dead 
machine. Thou dost regulate its motion by thy skill, pro- 
ducing good and well-performed results. 

35. Thou hast chances of great improvement, or, by 
negligence, of greatly depressing thy mental comprehen- 
sion. 

36. As thy Press, thou shouldst in a measure remain still 
neutral and individual — in a measure independent of every 
thought thou dost print. As thou dost set thy type to 
others' thoughts, let them still remain the property of 
others, and do not let them become impressed in thy mind 
before thou hast carefully examined all the proofs brought 
to substantiate them. 

37. Thus being ever careful of thy mind, thou canst 
pick among all presented to thee, analyze all and retain 
the truths, reject the errors of all, and grow in strength 
daily. 

38. If not thus careful of thyself, thou wilt become as 
changeable as the different minds' fruits thou represent. 
One thought borrowed here, and another there, thy own 
individuality is lost in a troubled sea of thoughts thou 
canst not claim. 



360 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

39. It were better far to not let in any borrowed thoughts 
from others' minds, than to not carefully analyze the mass 
thou dost work upon. If thou dost fill thy brain with that 
produced by others, thy own originality is weakened. 

40. Whilst thou hast great chances to elevate thyself, 
there is also great chance for thee to lose thy true source 
and power of elevation — a trustful dependence upon thy- 
self and Him who is the Fountain of all elevation. 

41. Thy outward labor becomes almost mechanical. 
Thy hand and vision will work out thoughts letter by 
letter, almost independent of thy inner mind. Then let 
thy own thoughts free, and seek thy own enjoyment above 
and beyond the labor that strengthens and feeds thy body. 

42. The time is coming when every man will print his 
own thoughts as quickly as he clearly perceives them. 

43. Did man comprehend the Light which God hath 
given within him, and know correctly its relation to the 
light of day and the darkness of night, Wisdom would 
circle round him in lines whose terminus was in the pure 
fountain whence light first came. 

44. God hath blessings in store for him which angels 
know not of, and whose loveliness Light alone can reveal. 

45. Oh, Man, another dawn awaits thee, the dawn of 
Light Within, which shall illuminate thy spirit more bril- 
liantly than the Sun's rays do the outer earth ! 

. 46. The Printing Press was unfolded unto man leaf by 
leaf, until, in the present generation, it seemeth almost 
perfection. Yet how complicated and how incomplete will 
it seem as future ages look back to its present ! 

47. When God said, Let there be Light — which truth, as 
hath been said, is proven by the barrenness of darkness — 
he said that which he alone can comprehend. Man is des- 
tined to be lighted by purer rays of holier wisdom than he 
hath ever had power to conceive existing ! 

48. When the Press, which now is the Sun in man's 
horizon, becometh eclipsed by the embodiment of God's 
light within him, controlling the light without, and stamp- 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 361 

ing thought in pure characters before his eyes, which shall 
last and be by light conveyed whithersoever spirit shall 
direct, then, oh, man, wilt thou see God in the Light which 
himself commanded to exist. 

49. When Light becometh understood within and with- 
out, then will things termed " impossible" and " improba- 
ble" cease to exist ; and when man hath fixed the highest 
point for his attainment, then will he be able to see the 
limits of possibility. 

50. Age after age hath its possibilities, probabilities, and 
their opposites fixed ; yet instantly are all unfixed by the 
eternal progression implanted within the spirit of man. 

51. This limiting disposition among mankind is becoming 
weaker and still weaker, for the rays of brighter suns are 
shedding around him daily more refined knowledge. 

52. Yet there are ever those who are but as the dead 
ballast among men that can not comprehend, and in igno- 
rance condemn the vessels, because their positions are 
slightly changed, as they bound across life's rolling bil- 
lows. 

53. A mighty engine for the shaking of such stabilities 
was, and still is, the power of the Press. Yet this noble 
instrument is at times controlled by such automatic men, 
that life or light can scarce come through it. 

54. Such men would confer their highest blessing upon 
Man by striving quietly to comprehend themselves. Should 
they accomplish this, their Press would, as it were, take 
unto itself wings, and carry them above all they termed 
probable, and show them truths most beautiful in that they 
had condemned as impossible. 

55. It would seem that the very instrument they use 
must through their own vision condemn them. To stop 
progression in man would be as unattainable as to check 
the will of God. Could progression cease, that which 
made it to cease would be greater than God, who made it 
to exist. 

56. Man, by his God-given control, can hinder his pro- 



362 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

gression in a measure, but he progresses from a germ lie 
can never reduce himself into again. 

57. Then what folly to strive and hold man back who is 
destined for heaven. And they who use that great instru- 
ment, the Printing Press, to hinder the ascent of their kind, 
are in very unenviable positions. 

58. Pie who uses a great instrument to do good with, is 
thereby exalted ; whilst if he use it to do that which he 
knoweth to be the promulgation of error, he enters in 
opposition to the progression that would exalt him in the 
sight of God. 

59. Surely it is better to advance toward God and hap- 
piness than to strive to attain a fixed earthly position. 

60. As thou dost tire handling the type, or laboring at 
the press, turn thy thoughts upward, and in Heaven seek 
for that which removeth all unhappiness. 

61. It is tiresome to labor among the thoughts that have 
come through another's organization. They may please 
the reader, but unto the one who works them out letter by 
letter, they become stale before expressed in their true 
form. 

62. There is no food so congenial unto the mind of man 
as that which is within himself revealed. That which 
cometh directly from the Fountain of Purity, and sheds 
around and over his spirit a living flood of light, is ever 
most welcome, most full, and far more nourishing than all 
else. 

63. As a limpid sea of Love, light encircles all things, 
and unto all supplieth that exhaustion produced by their 
own imperfection, which man hath termed want. The 
tired brain becometh exhausted from the results it pro- 
duceth as an individual, seeketh rest, and finds it in the 
flood of light that flows in upon it. 

64. Oh, Man, how ignorant thou art of thyself! yet be 
not discouraged, for endless and boundless is the eternity 
ahead of thee, and it overfloweth with the light of God's 
Love! 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 363 

65. Learn on, seek for truth in this boundless sea en- 
during, and it shall stay and strengthen thy every step. 

66. What joys surround thee ! Happiness pure and most 
serene swells full within the vast space thou termest void. 
Light of Jehovah's countenance most radiant ever envel- 
ops thee in its ample folds. 

67. Labor and learn, and learn to labor only for the glory 
of God. 

68. Thus wouldst thou become as the bright and shining 
star set firmly in man's void, upon whom all could look, 
and in looking be elevated by viewing the light of truth. 

69. The mighty weapon thou dost use as a printer should 
always be used in the truth's favor. To exalt thyself thou 
must thus use it, and if thou dost not use it thus, thou dost 
condemn thyself in thy daily labor. 

70. If thou canst not control the Press thou dost labor 
at, control at least thy own mind, and preserve it independ- 
ent of all upon which thou dost work. 

71. Thy mind is thy own property, cultivate it for thy- 
self, and in the fruits wilt thou receive thy recompense. 

72. Do not let out thy fields to be trampled under foot 
by every wayfarer. Thou must in a measure open them to 
every composer, and let them pour over and through thee 
their ideal showers ; but if thou dost watch thy seed, noth- 
ing save that which thou dost desire can grow. 

73. And if thou dost carefully plant good and truthful 
seed, every truth thou dost entype will be, as it were, en- 
grafted or added unto thy own seed, and thy own good tree 
will grow and give unto thee alone its purest and holiest 
fruits. 

74. Thou art blessed by opportunities of growing in truth, 
in goodness, and in pure knowledge, yet in proportion as 
thou art blessed, in the same proportion shouldst thou 
strive to bless thy kind. 

75. Thou canst shed around thy lowly kind more rays 
of light than any other lowly one, if faithful unto thyself 
and them. 



364 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

76. Do not let opportunities slip wherein thou couldst 
print a truth, for God alone can measure the good done by 
the planting of one genuine, truthful sentiment, within the 
mind of Man. 

77. Thine is a broad field, and thou shouldst plant with- 
in it the spiritual truths which Light is revealing unto the 
spirit of man. All truths are spiritual, for they emanate 
from one great Fountain, the Spirit of God. 

78. And it is a blessed thing to spread these truths 
before the mind of man, that he may, by outside influ- 
ences, be rendered passively harmonious, which state at- 
tracteth the lovely harmonious truths unto him, thus ren- 
dering him more progressive than he could otherwise 
become. 

79. The duties of the Printer are irksome in their details, 
but in their resultant effects most sublime. They become 
but a little germ, or, as the handful of seed scattered o'er 
the earth, become the little cause from which soon cometh 
the great harvest. Again being planted, again bringeth a 
more abundant fold, and where, oh, Man, must this mighty 
progression cease? 

80. Yet, Mighty Engine, thou art feeble, as hath been 
said, before the Light ! Thou mightest print and reprint ; 
but if God had not blessed man with comprehension, thou 
couldst never be appreciated, nor couldst thou ever have 
existed, had not the progression of man demanded thee in 
the want created by progressive individuality. 

81. Then thou shouldst serve only God, to do which thou 
must serve the highest w r ants of man. 

82. Printer, serve thy kind with truth. Measure all by 
thy highest comprehension, and be sure thou art right 
ere thou dost print a word. Do not say there are truths 
perhaps which thou canst not comprehend, for God is 
perfection ; do thou be honest in desire, and all will be 
well. 

83. If thou dost desire sincerely to benefit thy kind, and 
in that desire do act, every word thou dost print will be a 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 365 

witness before God in thy favor. Yet if thou serve thy 
kind with errors, which thou knowest to be such, merely 
because the errors may be popularly sought or held fast 
unto by the popular ones among men, the witnesses con- 
demn thee. 

84. Thy desires make thy Press their herald unto God. 
Desire to do good unto thy kind, and thou must do it so 
sure as all things are regulated by good principles, which 
are in turn regulated by God. 

85. Then if within thy spirit centers elevation or con- 
demnation, what folly for thee to become a time-serving 
man, instead of a servant of God, unto whom thou art in- 
debted for thy existence, and all happiness thou hast, or 
ever canst enjoy! 

86. All men who become mere time-servants, who merely 
serve the shell in which his spirit stays with such as only 
suit the shell of man, are lowly indeed — lowly in all noble 
qualities, and their aspirations can not rise above the dust 
they adore and live in fear of. 

87. The Press loses its nobility the instant its freedom is 
trammeled. It is a glorious instrument if free, but the 
meanest slave if bound in error's chains. 

88. Free, it soars to Heaven, and plucks therefrom 
boughs of loveliest promises, brings to earth, and gives 
most freely unto man ; bound, it clanks its death-like fet- 
ters, and in distorted visage grins from within its narrow 
cell, striving to terrify all who seek for the sweet beauties 
of truth ! 

89. The one worthy of God, the other too low for Flesh. 

90. The Printing Press should, as an instrument in the 
hands of man, be as free as thought, whose herald it is. 

91. All men should keep themselves untrammeled by 
the opinions of others, and should, if they desire to express 
them unto mankind, be given the privilege to do so freely. 
Every man can as readily judge of another's thoughts in 
reading them, as he can of those passing through his own 
mind. 



366 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

92. If lie have not independence enough to think for 
himself, or to reap enjoyment from his own thoughts, the 
thoughts of other minds will pass off from him, leaving 
him in ignorance no less than before he perused them. 

93. A man must think to appreciate thought. If he be- 
come careless and unthinking, his mind corrodes and stag- 
nates, probably condemning all thought, probably too lazy 
to use even this much exertion ; he dwindles in manhood, 
and all the noble qualities couched therein. 

94. If thoughtlessness produce such effects upon the in- 
dividual man, which all observation proves, what dire 
effects must be produced by trammeling the Great Engine 
of Thought upon the mass of mankind ! 

95. The spreading of Intelligence is a holy occupation, 
and he who does this acts nobly. If he have great facili- 
ties, the greater good can he do. And thus the Press 
becomes, as it were, a mighty Mouth, with tongues speak- 
ing all languages unto man ; and if rightly used, the good 
done can be comprehended by God alone. 

96. Yet again, if ruled by the Tyrant's hand, and made 
to speak only in honor of lowest passions and most de- 
graded selfishness, it becomes a many-headed monster, 
whose tongues speak untruth, and whose jaws are smeared 
with innocent blood. 

97. Within thy hand, oh, Printer, is this mighty weapon 
placed. Thou art made responsible for the deeds performed 
therewith. Thou must in sincerity and truth analyze all 
that cometh before thee, decide, print, and take thy share 
of the responsibility attached unto that printed. 

9S. Thou canst not act in an irresponsible position, with- 
out in the very act impeaching thy manhood. If thou dost 
admit thou art not responsible for thy labor, thou canst not 
help admitting thou art not entitled to reward, in which 
case thou dost become too low in the scale of creation to 
be addressed as man. 

99. Then if to be a man thou must become responsible 
for thy actions, let those actions become worthy of thy 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 367 

position as the child of God. God being free, thou must 
be free, and that which thou dost influence must have free- 
dom impressed upon its every word. 

100. A trammeled Press is the truckling slave of tyranny, 
unworthy the labor of any man who breathes God's pure, 
free air to sustain his life. "Would Printers take a bold 
and manly stand, resolved to labor for truth, and truth 
only, mankind would instantly take a mighty leap on the 
road toward Perfection. 

101. And how much more worthy the name Man to help 
an erring brother up toward God, than to hold him back 
and strive to tie him still tighter with the slavish chains of 
ignorance ! 

102. It is an unenviable position to attempt to stand be- 
tween God and his own loved children. 

103. Art thou poor ? Canst thou scarcely keep thyself 
in food to sustain thy outer body ? If so, dost thou not 
feel most keenly the biting selfishness of man ? Oh, turn 
unto God ! Seek his sympathizing Love, and he will exalt 
thee in the Heavens. 

104. If man oppress thee, if thou dost labor for poor re- 
ward from him, seek the One who giveth a glorious reward 
unto all who labor to enhance His glory. 

105. Cold and bitter is the selfishness mankind exhibit 
unto their lowlier brethren. Forgetting God, they trample 
under foot the holiest fruit of his divine hand. Error is 
abroad in the world, in ignorance wasting the time of man, 
giving him sensual enjoyments, selfish pleasures, and un- 
happiness as a return for seeking that which is thus proven 
to be God's opposite. 

106. Oh, Printer, thou mayest be poor, and even igno- 
rant, yet strive with thy highest knowledge to enlighten 
the darker minds on earth. 

107. Strive to help thy brethren — even the lowest of the 
low — one step higher. Thus, perhaps, thou wouldst plant 
a seed which they would improve upon by another step, 
and still another, higher and firmer, until in the end they 



368 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

would enjoy with thee, their staff, a more large heaven and 
a more refined happiness. 

108. Print one word, and let that teach thy lowly kind 
to love ; and if this be all thou canst do, it will be enough 
to glorify thee. 

109. Oh, what benefit would be given unto man, did he, 
as a mass of Individuals, strive to benefit himself! How 
unnatural to quarrel with any of his parts, because they 
are not a perfect whole ! 

110. E"o part can judge perfectly of the whole, and all 
should be charitable. 

111. The man who can govern a Press, and that which 
flows from it, hath great chances to instruct almost num- 
berless parts of this great sum, Man. And let him take 
good notice of all that cometh from his great Distributor 
of Knowledge. 

112. Let him watch every word, and be sure that truth 
is therein ; for his labor is filed in Heaven, and if his 
deeds be not good, he hath condemned himself. 

113. Would the managers of the Press remember that 
there is an All-seeing Eye, who knoweth not only every 
printed word their press utters, but the spirit and intention 
in which it was uttered — before whom their sheet is either 
pure and spotless good intentions, or smeared with the 
dark ink of darker passions than ink can express — they 
would be less reckless of their individual responsibility. 

114. They, too, have crouched before the selfishness of 
erring man ! 

115. They, too, do worship idols made of dust, and o'er 
their spirits pour the lifeless currents of darkness ! 

11G. Turn toward God, and with all thy powers and all 
thy numerous opportunities and privileges strive manfully 
to elevate thy kind. Do not stand aside and let error grow 
and strengthen unnoticed. Do not look carelessly on and 
see man upon the low planes of ignorance, without extend- 
ing one of thy many hands, or speaking with one of thy 
many tongues, to help him upward toward God's presence. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 369 

117. If God hath blessed thee with knowledge, and thou 
canst, as it were, multiply this knowledge so greatly, oh, 
why refuse to be just unto thy Father, whose is all thou 
dost or canst enjoy. He gave unto thee most freely ; then 
be Godlike, and unto thy kind give even as freely as thou 
didst from him receive. 

118. It is most noble, most Godlike to do good. All 
who labor in the vineyard of their eternal Father must do 
good, for goodness is the vineyard, and the fruits thereof 
are eternal peace and joy. 

119. All is the Father's ; for even in thy joy does he 
reap joys most refined, and as thou dost arise and go 
unto him, there are more pure rays shed upon thee ; thou 
dost more purely receive and more purely reflect unto 
thy kind. 

120. As thou dost send out rays of thy inward peace 
and plenty — as thou dost, as it were, create a vacuum 
within thyself, the all-sustaining Love of Jehovah filleth 
thee again full to overflowing ; and as it is more pleasure 
to give than to receive, the Good One receiveth from thee 
this pleasure. 

121. Thus thy most trivial good action opens a door for 
the reception of God's pure love within thy spirit, in re- 
ceiving which thou art blessed. Canst thou not do good ? 
To say thou canst not, is to reprove thy Heavenly Father 
for his very goodness unto thee ! 

122. Oh, if weak and weary — if most tired of living on 
earth, bethink thee of thy future life, when, instead of a 
little seed, thou wilt be the blooming bush or clustering 
vine, ever fragrant and most happy ! Remember God is 
near thee, and thou art near and dear unto him. 

123. To ask of God, is to receive that which unto the 
asking one is best. He giveth perfect gifts, and if thou 
askest of him, let it be in humility for that which in his 
view seemeth best. 

124. Oh, Printer! as thou art abundantly responsible, 
be thou most dependent upon God for all things, and he 

24 



370 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

will give thee joys that types can never fully express, and 
naught save the elevated spirit of man comprehend. 

125. He will furnish thy enlarged mind with truths 
which, once printed, will endure forever. He will lead 
thee into new fields, and the flowers therein most fragrant 
shalt thou cull and place before thy delighted kind. 

126. There are many composers selected for high and 
holy missions, and who are held back therefrom simply 
because their writings are truths too plain or simple for the 
Press to speak in their support. Truths are rejected be- 
cause unpopular, and errors supported simply because they 
stimulate a depraved, popular appetite ! 

127. Strange that man will be so short-sighted as to 
reject the gem of Eternal duration for the bubble of a day 
which is blown up, floats, bursts, and is no more forever ! 

128. And how strange that the colors of this transient 
bubble should hold man, the child of God, in awe of its 
bursting beauty ! 

129. Poison may be sweetened until most palatable, but 
the ensuing agony is most bitter. Man may soothe his 
weary head upon the coils of the slumbering snake, but 
when the coils are strangling him, he awakes but to see his 
fearful doom. 

130. Error seemeth in some phases most beautiful unto 
the diseased taste, yet, oh ! how keen the torture that fol- 
lows the draught ! 

131. Man was builded of truths, sustained by truths, 
and unto truths should return. His spirit of God's spirit — 
his body of God's earth. Opposites connected in harmony 
— made opposites by the will of God for the consummation 
of his great plan. 

132. Man's spirit enjoys and his body enjoys, yet these 
enjoyments either coincide in an elevated heaven on earth, 
or disagree, producing the lower planes of enjoyment which 
the depraved passions of man revel in. 

133. The spirit ever striveth to ascend ; that is, ever 
striveth to purify itself from the restraints of its opposite. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 371 

The Earth changeth in man, as out of him becoming dust 
again — returning whence it came. The spirit hath but one 
course, one true path, which is forever onward and upward 
in purity. 

134. Then if all are truths, both high and low develop- 
ments must ever be most easily and most surely raised by 
those truths that ever tend upward. Then if thou dost 
print for man, have thy truths of the highest spiritual order, 
that thou mayest elevate his highest nature most rapidly. 

135. If thou wouldst benefit thy kind, teach them in that 
which, once learned, can not be forgotten, God's own truth. 
Thou mayest teach him how to develop his bodily strength 
and powers of endurance, but one blast of disease may lay 
thy earthly monument prostrate in the dust ; thus merely 
returning the atomic flesh whence it came, and the result 
of thy labor is but a harvest for worms. 

136. Whereas, if thou dost teach man the truths con- 
nected with his spiritual nature, thy monument ever riseth 
higher and still higher in that purity wherein dwelleth all 
pure enjoyment. 

137. Oh, print high and pure truths, broad and bound- 
less as eternity — holy and divine as the Source whence 
they came ! Thus wilt thou build upon the eternal rock, 
and forever wilt thou stand in the midst of Heaven's high- 
est, A Man, a child and companion of God, the loved of 
all and most wise, the favorite of all the skies, the faithful 
Distributor of God's own glorious Truth. Thus Print thy- 
self in Heaven. 

138. Learn of God his holy will, and unto thy^ind on 
earth pour out thy treasure. Seek his counsel, and ever 
act as within thy spirit his voice shall dictate. Be ever 
open to his Inspired Messenger, and thou canst not err. 
Be humble in deportment before men, and before God be 
never presuming. 

139. Receive thankfully that which is given unto thee, 
and strive to improve upon it, that thou mayest earn a 
glorious reward. 



372 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

140. Let thy light shine clearly, that none stumble on 
thy account. 

141. Illuminate the path of man with the light God 
would reflect through thee, and thou wilt reign with him 
forever. 

142. Thine is a noble mission ; it leadeth unto a glorious 
destination, even the presence of thy Father in Heaven. 

143. Persevere — falter not — but upon the arm of Him 
who sustaineth all do thou lean for support. His attri- 
butes never forsake the need}', and they who ask will ever 
receive of His bountiful Love. 

144. Oh, then, in common with thy brethren, turn toward 
God and receive — that which he alone can give — endless 
blessings. 

145. He will shed around thee the softest, sweetest love, 
the serenest light, and most high and holy truths that ever 
surround him, as the combined essences of all Purity, 
forming an Atmosphere or Holy Presence which compre- 
hension can never limit — whose Fountain, course, and ter- 
mination is the Pure One who knoweth all — who is all, yet 
unto thee, his lowly child, an ever-loving and indulgent 
Parent — thy benefactor on earth, thy Creator, and thy ever- 
living and loving Father. 

146. The Dove hath left Printer and his Press, and 
there he stands with his arms folded, his head drooping 
under the weight of mighty thoughts, his eve fixedlv ^azine: 
upon his great Distributor of Knowledge ; he stands there 
as a statue. 

147. The simple words of the Inspired voice hath touched 
his tenderest string, and it is vibrating in the spirit-sanc- 
tuary. A tear gathers unnoticed in his eye, and courses 
down his care-worn cheek. Now his face is raised toward 
heaven, and the quivering lip and tearful eye proclaim the 
true devotion of his spirit in silence ascending to that long- 
forgotten Fountain of mercy. 

148. 'Tis enough. Within his spirit is heard, " Peace, 
be still." 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 373 

149. A sraile of happiness settles o'er bis brow, and a 
calm serenity within sheddeth lovely beams over all he 
looks npon. He is happy, and exclaims, " Henceforth, oh, 
God, with thy favor, I will labor only for thy glory by 
striving to elevate my erring kind." 

150. One good resolve, faithfully kept and executed, 
must bring forth fruits forever, blessing the one who re- 
solved in time and eternity. Oh, Printers ! take this re- 
solve to serve God faithfully and fearlessly, and your 
instruments will shine in brighter rays than ever before. 

151. Be ever worthy of God's communion, and thus 
enjoy the highest privilege bestowed upon man. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

1. Circling around the lowly, yet ever above them, the 
bright Bird flieth. Again she stoops, and fearlessly enters 
the door of The Lowly Smith. 

2. She hath faith in God, and perfect Faith removeth all 
fear — a simple lesson she came to earth to reveal unto 
man. 

3. Gentle Dove, thou art the Friend of Man. Thou dost 
not stand back shocked at outside dust or dirt, but dost 
enter fearlessly upon thy mission whithersoever thou art- 
called. 

4. The Anvil's ring does not terrify the Bird, emblem 
of God's voice, neither does the dust falling in flakes from 
the blazing Fire sully her spotless plumage. 

5. And now she hath lighted upon the Forge, and com- 
menceth her instructive lessons to her lowly friend. 

6. Thou art, oh, Smith, the stay and staff of all the lowly 
laborers on God's footstool. All come to thy Forge, and 
depend upon thee for the tools with which they earn their 
daily bread. 

7. The Tiller of the Soil feeds thee with his fruit, but in 
assisting nature to feed you both, he must needs have the 
use of thy well-skilled hand. His Plow and Spade and 
Pruning Hook have all assumed their useful forms beneath 
thy sturdy stroke. 

8. Thou hast fashioned his tools for the labor, turning 
the Iron and Steel into good witnesses in thy favor. 

9. The Builder, of whatever material used, must upon 
thee depend ere he takes the first firm step. 

10. His tools come forth strong and well tempered from 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATIONS. 375 

thy dusty shop, and the beautiful edifices he constructs as 
homes for his fellow-men, are results partly indebted unto 
thee for their existence. 

11. And the lowly Weaver, as his Shuttle singeth a 
merry song, would come to thee should that shuttle split 
or want repairing. He, too, acknowledges thy instrument- 
ality i'n every web he weaves, even unto his web of Life. 

12. And the Printer, too, must seek thee out to mend 
his broken Press ere he can send forth his rays of Light 
unto his kind. Thou dost seem a man of iron nerve unto 
whom all the weak apply for help to shield them from the 
accidents of life. 

13. Thou art unto all trades like the Mathematician unto 
all sciences, or, like man unto the creation, the Link unit- 
ing and combining all things in harmony. 

14. Thou art God of the Trades. With thy sustaining 
arm their labors commence, and thus thou dost seem the 
Creator of the seeds whence trades come. Kemember this 
is purely in an outside sense, for there is but one God in 
reality, and when thou art termed " God of the Trades," 
thou must not presume upon the name, else thou dost 
become more dusty inside than thou art outwardly. 

15. Not only are trades indebted unto thy strong arm 
and willing spirit, but nearly all science is in a measure 
dependent upon instruments of thy construction, or upon 
instruments thou didst make the tools for constructing, in 
their various formations for analysis or discoveries. 

16. Thou dost seem an outward center, around which re- 
volve all trades, professions, or occupations that emplov 
thy kind in their walks through life. 

17. High and low, so termed, come unto thee to ask 
favors in their need, yet thou art in turn dependent upon 
all, as the links of an endless chain all welded fast within 
one another. 

18. Thy outward occupation is very useful unto man, 
and thus is good and noble. 

19. True nobility and usefulness can never be separated. 



376 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

God is most noble, and surely lie is most useful unto his 
needy children. 

20. Thou dost imitate Him in making useful implements 
from his created matter. The Iron thou dost shape into 
numberless blessings for thy kind is most inanimate. The 
Steel produced therefrom of finest cast and temper is 
lifeless ; yet with these lifeless and inanimate forms com- 
bined by thy skill, thou dost give thy kind most acceptable 
enjoyments. 

21. The earth giveth up her lands unto thy Plow. The 
Forests fall before the Axe thou hast made, and the bright 
and nourishing corn is gathered by using implements thou 
hast builded. 

22. Numberless are the benefits thou dost outwardly 
bestow upon thy kind. And as the outward and inward 
are so intimately connected, thou must bestow good gifts 
that endure in their effects forever. 

23. Thy muscles wield the Hammer, and thy Anvil's 
vibrating sound circles upward toward God. The air 
catches the tones, mingles them with murmuring brooks 
and warbling birds, in the soft sighing breeze, blending all 
in one full swelling tone of earthly harmony. 

24. From thy every stroke ascends a prayer, joined in 
unison with nature's voices, all asking, " Father, upon thy 
outer works be pleased to pour thy denser blessings." 

25. The air is purified by the falling shower, the shrink- 
ing brooks are filled, and the little birds sing sweeter songs 
in the bracing breeze. And thy strong arm, too, is nour- 
ished by the answer to thy ringing prayer for daily bread 
found in the food thou thankfully dost earn. 

26. Thou dost sing thy daily song of praise unto Him 
who is most worthy of all praise, and in return dost reap 
enjoyments thou dost seek for. 

27. The Husbandman, the Architect, the Weaver, and 
the Printer, and all else who daily labor for daily bread, 
sing their muscular song of praise unto God. 

28. Thv Anvil's joyous ring leads the choral son^, and 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 377 

startled nature listens in awe at the tones of useful melody. 
One by one the strings vibrate until they upward rise in 
grand, full swells, filling the blue ethereal vault with the 
Song of Life. 

29. Of useful life they sing, and every tone doth bring 
down bread for the needy. The tones are strong and firm, 
yet in sweetness wanting. The spirit-string hath not been 
reached, and the tones fall short of that celestial harmony 
unto which the Father loveth most to listen. 

30. As thou dost lead the daily song and lowly throng 
of thy laboring kind in that which supplies their present 
want, lead them also in those higher devotions which pro- 
duce higher enjoyments and more lasting favors. 

31. Be thou the leader on the upward march. Let thy 
every stroke sound unto thy kind as the revealer of some 
new and beautiful truth, and let thy Anvil's ring ever pro- 
claim glad tidings unto man. 

32. Do not become so enraptured with thy dusty shop 
as to forget there is a bright home for thee above the 
earth, wherein only thy spirit will labor, and labor only to 
enjoy. 

33. Thy God should claim thy every thought. Thou 
canst not strive to benefit thy kind, without every thought 
becoming, as it were, welded unto thy spiritual being. 
Thus thinking produceth an elevated affinity — an affinity 
for that which is pure and holy, which, in turn, links thee 
with God, the purest and most holy. 

34. If thou dost cling fast unto thy iron and steel, per- 
mitting them to take the place that should be occupied with 
and by spiritual things, thou art forsaking the acceptable 
in God's sight, and clinging unto dead weights, which re- 
tard thy progress. 

35. Thou wouldst laugh at one who had a long journey 
before him, if he fastened his anvil upon his back, to carry 
into a land where he could not use it. Yet this is pre- 
cisely thy position, if thou dost chain thyself to such enjoy- 
ments and such knowledge as only thy trade bringeth thee. 



378 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

36. Thy trade is useful unto thy kind and unto thee, 
if it assists you onward toward God, for this is the only 
real usefulness. And thy trade will help thee toward 
him, if thou dost use it as a means of glorifying him. 

37. If thou dost only think of thy occupation, thy affini- 
ties become much lower than if thou didst expand thy 
spiritual perceptions by high communion with thy own or 
others' spirits. 

38. The spirit hath higher perceptions than aught else 
connected with man ; and hence, if thou dost encourage 
these perceptions, truths will become simpler, thou wilt 
expand more and still more rapidly ; whilst the fleshy 
powers are at best very limited in nature and extent. 

39. God is the spiritual fountain, whilst earth is the 
fount whence flesh cometh. Thou seest that thy hardest 
steel wears and changes in time — thus wilt thou. God re- 
maineth eternally pure and good. 

40. If thy body becometh dusty, and the dust adheres 
unto thee by the perspiration flowing freely from thy body, 
and if thou dost wish to cleanse the body, thou art careful 
to have clean water. If thou art thirsty, thou wouldst pre- 
fer a draught fresh and pure from the cool spring. 

41. In every thing connected with thy outward pleasure 
thou art particular. Thy Iron will not work well, if it 
be not pure ; thy Steel will break or batter, if it be not 
hardened rightly ; and thy Are used to shape these metals 
into useful tools must be clean and clear of trash, to enable 
thee to do good work. 

42. These things are truths, daily proven in thy daily 
labor. 

43. Thou art not an Iron or Steel man. Thy life is not a 
consuming fire, but an eternal pleasure-ground. Spirit is the 
great distinguishes elevating thee above the lower creation. 

44. If thou art so careful of all those things which change 
so rapidly, why so careless of that which eternally endurerh 
as thy own self? Thy spirit forever liveth — thy flesh, as 
thou hast seen, is again returned unto earth. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 379 

45. Go thou to the fountain of God's light and love, his 
Intelligence and Mercy, and therein bathe thy spirit, even 
as thou dost with water cleanse thy outer body. Stand not 
aloof from the high pleasures he would fain bestow upon 
thee. 

46. As thou dost add link after link to thy endless chain 
of Life, let every one bring thee nearer unto God, and let 
them be larger and more firm. Let them be made of ma- 
terial more and still more refined as they approach nearer 
the Fountain of All. 

47. Thus wilt thou progress step by step in knowledge 
and in the enjoyment which pure knowledge brings. 

48. Thy first links will be coarse and rough, the material 
brittle and easily broken, but every successive one adds 
new strength and beauties. With knowledge cometh skill; 
and if in thy higher stages of progression false metal be 
offered thee, thou dost remember thy starting links, and 
reject the offer. 

49. Let thy life be pure as thy measure can comprehend. 
Always aim at good work. As thy earthly reputation is 
elevated by good results, by making good and useful im- 
plements for thy kind, so is that inward reputation ad- 
vanced in the sight of God by faithful good works in the 
Spiritual Shop. 

50. Good outward labor will not annihilate spiritual 
responsibility. 

51. Thou canst not make a single tool if thou dost not 
know how ; neither canst thou enjoy spiritual pleasure if 
thou dost not know how. Of what use were light, if all 
were blind ? or Love, if none could feel its pleasure ? Of 
what use were God's voice, if none could hear? 

52. Thou canst see, thou canst love, and canst hear thy 
Father's voice. Then cultivate thy spiritual vision, that 
Heaven may be visible ; cultivate love, that thou may est 
eternally feel its holy sweetness, and ever listen for His 
voice, that thou mayest hear the central tone whence com- 
eth all harmony. 



380 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

53. Thy Anvil rings beneath thy stroke, and thus is ever 
truthful to the tone implanted in its nature. Thy fire burns 
in obedience to thy skillful combinations of God's effects. 
Thy Iron warms, heats, and, ere it reaches the burning 
point, thou dost take it from the very verge of destruction, 
and with skillful strokes produce strong and lasting proofs 
of thy usefulness unto thy kind. 

54. Thou art thankfully repaid by receiving in return 
the combined usefulness of all for whom thou dost labor. 
Thou dost aid them, and in return art aided by them. 

55. If man, the earthly child of God, rewards thee for thy 
every useful act unto him, and he is still so imperfect, must 
not thy Father reward thee for all thy spiritual nature can 
accomplish for him ? 

56. Canst thou labor for God without reward ? All 
labor he requireth at thy hands is good. To labor for him 
is to manifest his love in thy deeds among thy kind. Make 
them to feel the happiness which can come alone from 
within the divine attributes of Deity. 

57. Presume not to live an idle, inward life, because, 
perchance, thou mayest outwardly labor very hard. Thou 
canst think of things higher than Iron or Steel, or even the 
most refined Gold, can ever go. Thy mind should not be- 
come a dusty shop, filled, as it were, by old scraps of worn- 
out things, which may have been very good in their time, 
but have, in common with their time, passed out of use. 

58. Sweep clean thy floor, have every tool securely in 
its place, that thou canst leave the shop at any time, and 
still it will look well, reflecting credit upon its occupant. 

59. A hasty piece of work is given thee ; tool after tool 
is caught and handled nimbly, dropped again in its place 
until again required, and it is really a pleasure to the be- 
holder to watch thy orderly actions. When the work is 
finished he leaves reluctantly, almost sorrowing thou hadst 
worked so swiftly. 

60. If disorder enters, how different the results ! Every 
tool is scattered over the floor, and whilst the right one is 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 381 

being sought, the iron cools, must be heated again — thus 
losing time. Perhaps the most important tool is so out of 
repair, that it must be dressed over again ere it can be used 
at all — thus sorely taxing the time of the impatient em- 
ployer. 

61. There is a chain connecting the outward with the 
inward. 

62. It is very strong, yet every man can increase or 
diminish its strength. If he become enamored of the out- 
ward, when any important work is to be done his tools are 
scattered about and out of repair. He must thus at best 
work slowly, and his ragged tools prove themselves in the 
disfigured work. 

63. If his spirit have full control of his mind, all the 
organs are kept in repair and placed properly, to be most 
handy for use in any emergency that may occur. 

64. Let the most wary reasoner enter his shop and place 
before him a difficult proposition to solve. His spirit qui- 
etly and carefully views the subject in all lights, tests it 
with the light within, reveals its bright points, its shady 
niches, and finally sums up the result in unmovable truth 
— puts the tools quietly back in their places, and waits for 
another object to work upon. 

65. It is impossible to deceive the one who is constantly 
regulated by the spiritual powers, for they in turn are con- 
nected inseparably with the Fountain of Purity, wherein 
is no deceit, and consequently no affinity for that which 
deceives. 

66. Thou knowest that thy Iron and Steel would never 
unite into the good and useful implements of trade without 
thy knowledge, exerted in unison with thy strength, be 
brought to bear upon them. 

67. And thou shouldst also know that this very knowl- 
edge is a result of thy spirit's connection with thy animal 
powers, and that both are indebted unto God for all they 
separately or conjunctively produce, which takes the shape 
of thy own individuality. 



382 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

68. As the use of the hammer and sledge gives thy arm 
strength like unto the metals upon which thou dost labor 
— making thee as a monument unto thy healthful occupa- 
tion — so will thy inward labor give thee knowledge that 
shall increase thy strength and elevate thy monument high 
above all earthly things. It will rise above the anvil's 
ring or hammer's sound, and in the Heavens receive newer 
beauties forever. 

69. Practice virtue inwardly as thou dost usefulness out- 
wardly. 

70. If thou dost cease laboring with thy strong arm, it 
dwindles in size and strength, and ere long can not per- 
form half the labor with the same ease with which it had 
accomplished the whole. 

71. Thus, with thy mental powers, if they have been in 
full force all employed earnestly, nicely regulated by the 
spirit-controller, they produce glorious results ; but let the 
controller cease its sway, and all the machinery moves 
slower, more uncertain, and can not overcome half the 
amount of obstacles that were previously removed. 

72. Thy outward nature, as thou seest, is bufa demon- 
stration of thy inward nature. Thou canst not make the 
first stroke without using thy whole being to assist thee. 
Thy spirit starts the machine, directs the power, aims the 
blow, and finally the Hammer hits the Iron. 

73. Yet think not that this taketh time sufficient to ex- 
plain it in its accomplishment, for, in the daily habits of 
thy life, thou dost become so mechanical as to want but 
little outward guidance from thy regulator. 

74. Whilst thy Iron is heating, thou canst in one day 
think volumes of holy thoughts. Thy spirit can arise and 
go unto its Father's house, and therein reap pleasures that 
the observers dream not of. 

75. Thy eye takes in the progress of the fire upon thy 
object placed within it, and thy thoughts become two-fold. 
One of an elevated cast drinks in the purities of Heaven ; 
the other, of an earthly nature, circles around the heating 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 383 

labor upon, but ever leavest the higher thoughts in the ho- 
lier realms of happiness. 

76. Thus thou art a man of God, and still of thy kind 
art one. Thus canst thou patiently labor for both by doing 
unto both thy highest duty. 

77. The one duty merges into the other, for whilst God 
is thy Creator and Father, man is his child and thy broth- 
er. Serve God and man. The one with thy highest aspi- 
rations, the other with thy kindest sympathies. 

78. As links of an Eternal Chain, cement thy kind unto 
the pure Source whence all connected with them hath ever 
come. 

79. With words of love cement them. As thou dost 
outwardly furnish them with implements so useful, be also 
ambitious to serve them with the more lasting implements 
of Light and Love, which forever endure. 

80. They are bound by thee in outward things, and daily 
acknowledge thy usefulness by using the fruits of thy hand. 
Oh, then, by faithfulness unto God, make them acknowledge 
also thy inward instructions to result in inward and far 
more lasting blessings. 

81. Band them together as brethren of elevated affinities. 

82. Elevate thyself toward God by thoughts of holy 
nature, and by expressing thy thoughts unto thy kind, thus 
raise them. 

83. God's goodness is unlimited. Thou canst with his 
iron and his knowledge used by thee combined, produce 
almost innumerable products, which, in their usefulness 
unto man, prove themselves to be good. The goodness is 
all his, and if thou art faithful unto the sweet voice within 
thee, thou wilt have naught but enjoyment. 

84. Think not that thy Heavenly Father is selfish — 
rather believe that every thing being produced from him 
and by him, and all being useful — all producing for all a 
blending sum of happiness, believe that this sum is pure 
and far more good and lovely than aught below him can 
conceive. 



SS4: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

85. Thy progression in thy daily labor showeth thee, if 
rightly viewed, avenues leading unto mighty truths. 

86. When first thy trade is commenced, thou hast no 
skill outwardly. Thy strokes are awkward, and thy iron 
unmanageable. The fire will not burn to suit thee — either 
too fast or too slow ; the iron heats too slowly or burns, 
and perhaps when all else seems right, an awkward stroke 
knocks it from thy smarting hand, and thou dost feel dis- 
couraged. 

87. Time, and patiently persevering, bringeth their re- 
ward in the knowledge imparted unto thee. Thy anvil 
hath a different sound ; the hammer seemeth almost to go 
of itself, and all that is made by thee assumes a more sub- 
stantial and still more beautiful shape and form. 

88. As thou dost progress in obtaining the mastery of 
thy hammer, thy fire, and in obtaining more knowledge 
of the iron and steel thou art using, thy tasks all become 
easier. 

89. Thy muscles, too, grow and strengthen day by day 
and year by year, until thou art capable of performing 
labor that unto the inexperienced seems miraculous. 

90. Thus thou dost grow, from the uninitiated apprentice, 
gradually into the experienced and skillful workman, unto 
whom all connected with thy trade is easy. 

91. Again turn inward, and thou wilt find that all this 
progression started first within thy spiritual nature. Grad- 
ually it grew upon thy mind, and produced thoughts more 
and more in harmony with thy occupation, until the mind 
and body were capable of exerting their powers almost 
independent of thy spirit. 

92. If thou art true unto the requirements of thy spirit, 
thy inward progression will be as systematic, and as firmly 
onward and upward, as thy outward course. 

93. It would seem sufficient proof to substantiate this 
truth in thy mind, to say that thy outer progression is but 
a result of thy inward actions. 

94. Thou knowest that thy spirit perceives truths more 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 385 

and still more clearly as age advances. Those things which 
were all clothed in mystery in thy childhood are clearer in 
thy youth, and far more plain in thy manhood. 

95. Thou thus dost demonstrate within thyself that per- 
ception of truth is the only advancement of spirit. Then 
to progress inwardly thou must still ever more clearly per- 
ceive the truths of spirit, as outwardly thou dost progress 
by perceiving the truths more intimately connected with 
matter, such as the iron and steel upon which thou dost 
labor. 

96. Thou wouldst not ask the uninitiated apprentice to 
take thy place at the Anvil, for thou hast experienced the 
truth that he could not do it. Neither will thy Father in 
Heaven ask of thee the accomplishment of things thou 
canst not perform 

97. But as thy apprentice becometh in time as thou art 
— the experienced workman — so dost thou inwardly be- 
come more and still more worthy of still higher truths. 

98. Thou art on a plane, one end of which is in the 
earth, the other in the Heavens, in the eternal presence of 
Jehovah. Oh, Man, whilst in thy daily labor thou dost 
demonstrate the great progressive truths, do not in thy 
spiritual aspirations reject the highest point unto which 
progression can ever lead. 

99. When thou dost prove in thy most trivial action that 
all nature progresses, all art tends upward, do not forget 
that the highest progress of the highest nature is couched 
within thy own immortal spirit. 

100. From the bars of Iron and Steel thou dost pro- 
duce the tool most useful unto thy kind, yet it was not in 
them in form before thou didst upon them exercise thy 
powers. The substance was there, but not the individual 
implement. 

101. Thus with truth thou wilt ever find that which 
becomes molded to suit thy organization in every thing 
upon which thou dost exert thy powers. Thy skillful hand 
produceth things which reveal thy hand in such distinct- 

25 



386 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

ness that all accustomed to view thy productions know 
instantly thy work. 

102. God vieweth thus thy inward labor ; he knoweth 
the capacity of thy spiritual, mental, and physical powers, 
and as thou dost regulate thyself, so dost thou reap thy 
own reward. If thy spirit lose control of thy mind, thou 
must suffer as would thy outer occupations if thou wert to 
become careless, leaving thy engagements to be filled by 
the unskilled apprentice. 

103. When so attentive to the things of time, it would 
also be well to watch that more precious part within thee, 
around which time is but as a shell that breaks off and 
decays. 

104. Do thou also turn heavenward, and strive to help 
thy kind with thee up the plane. 

105. Forge for thy kind strong links of high affinity. 
Draw them from their lower natures into their higher priv- 
ileges, giving them ever proofs of thy love for them, in all 
things acting for God in the restoration of Man. 

106. Do not submit unto man's dictation when thou 
must know that at best on earth he is imperfect and 
prejudiced. 

107. Do not forge fetters for thy lowly brethren, but in 
all things and at all times stand up a man honored and 
honorable in the sight of God. If thou dost not respect 
thyself, who will respect thee? If thou dost not respect 
God, thou dost not enable thyself to comprehend his respect 
for thee. 

108. In short, if thou art not a man in spirit, all spirits 
and the Fountain of spirit know it intuitively. 

109. There is a portion of true knowledge which is too 
little thought of; it is this: Every man exalteth or con- 
demneth himself. 

110. True, through God's attributes lie is exalted, for 
they alone are perfect parts of a perfect whole ; but the 
truth that man suffers from infringement and enjoys from 
obeyance, showeth God's intention to be that man should 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 387 

be an individual being, with control of these attributes so 
far as able to comprehend their operations within himself. 

111. As in thy trade thou dost succeed or fail in propor- 
tion as thou dost understand the nature of the things among 
which thou dost labor, and as thou art by practice adapted 
unto that labor, so in thy spiritual nature thou dost suc- 
ceed or fail in proportion as thou dost understand God's 
attributes, and in thy daily life live in conformity with 
their pure dictations. 

112. To enjoy requireth comprehension. How difficult 
thy labor, if thou dost not know how thy object is to be 
accomplished! And as thou canst comprehend thy out- 
ward labors, so canst thou begin in thy earthly sojourn to 
comprehend thy eternal life. Strive for this comprehen- 
sion in its highest earthly development, for this very striv- 
ing, as hath unto others been said, is part of thy eternal 
ascension. 

113. Thou hast often had given thee outward tasks that 
seemed most difficult to accomplish ; yet, when thoroughly 
understood, they became not only easy, but created pleas- 
ure in the very overcoming of them. 

114. Again is this like unto thy inward nature. A great 
truth startles thee ; thou art so astonished, and canst 
scarcely think at all ; yet as the fogs of mystery clear 
away from the plain substance, thou dost grasp it as a 
lovely gem dropped from angelic hands to cheer thee on- 
ward toward God. 

115. If thy fire does not work well, thou dost examine 
it carefully, remove the grate and see that there is no ob- 
struction in the draught, examine the coal to see if there 
be any trash among it that will neither burn well nor let 
the willing coal perform its wonted duty. 

116. If thy hammer is out of repair, thou dost dress it 
into perfect order ; thy every tool is made complete for in- 
stant use. 

117. And if these Irons or Steels, being inanimate, and 
producing only inanimate results, have necessarily thy 



388 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

care, how canst thou help knowing that if thy spirit be not 
kept in order, thou wilt never do good work with it ? 

118. And is not the spirit far more worthy of labor 
than all the iron ever produced from earth ? Thou wouldst 
not labor to produce that which ended even as thou 
didst finish its construction. Thou wouldst despise the 
Smith who accomplished nothing useful for himself or his 
kind. 

119. Does not all thy earthly labor crumble from thy 
spirit at death of thy body ? Thou canst not take thy 
choicest outward production with thee into the realms of 
purity, for matter is too dense to enter therein. 

120. Oh, then, labor in that wherein labor is eternal. 
Perform all thy outward duties, for thou hast a body, and 
unto it are attached outward responsibilities ; but how small 
these are in extent compared with that eternal responsibil- 
ity attached unto thy spirit ! 

121. The one like unto the sand upon the sea-shore, the 
other as the earth upon which the atom resteth ; the one as 
the dew-drop, the other as the warm sunlight which drinks 
it up, to again deposit it in the boundless Ocean of Eter- 
nity. 

122. Thy atomic part hath its measure of happiness im- 
planted in its existence, and into thy hands is given the 
power to expand this measure by the enlargement of thy 
comprehension. If thou dost only comprehend the mate- 
rial substances, remember, this comprehension is far more 
limited than to fully understand whence came this power 
of comprehension. 

123. Tradesmen are too careless of their Individuality. 
They seem to think that because they labor outwardly fur 
support, that they are thereby degraded. They reveal 
these thoughts unto others and in so doing lessen the re- 
spect really due them. 

124. It is noble to labor for the good of Man. The high- 
est labor is that which enlightens and elevates his spirit ; 
but if his body be constantly kept uncomfortable, this state 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS- 389 

of being must check his power of ascending, by employing 
too much thought about earthly things. 

125. If thou art unlearned of man, dost thou know thou 
art the child of God ? Surely thou hast felt that yearn- 
ing after that which is above and beyond thy present. 
Whence came this feeling, this want which earth never 
hath supplied or can supply ? And why yearn for that 
which is above thee? 

126. Oh, Man, thou art in the channel of God's light and 
love, which ever seek to return to their source — as thy own 
blood unto thy lungs and heart — to again receive that inex- 
pressible purity from Deity's presence, to again return unto 
the circumference of space ! 

127. Privileges unto thee are given most pure and holy. 
Thou art in the image of Perfection. Grand is thy des- 
tiny. Thy soiled hands and hardened muscles — as unto 
others hath been said — can not stand between thee and 
God. 

128. His power revealed in his Love descendeth within 
thy inmost spirit-sanctuary, purines the temple, and giveth 
heavenly joy as thy reward for receiving. God giveth all, 
and thus is it more blessed to give than to receive ; but with 
man it is far more blessed to receive God's favor than to 
reject it. In the one case, all happiness is received; in 
the other, all is rejected, for there is no happiness inde- 
pendent of God. 

129. When peace and joy shall reign on Earth — and it 
is thy duty to hasten that glorious period — then, oh ! 
Smith, shalt thou be commissioned to beat the warlike im- 
plements, formerly used to hasten men off of earth, into 
good and useful tools of trade. 

130. Such thy mission, and thy reward will be found so 
full and glorious, that thy earthly labor will indeed seem 
like unto the passing breath of air that fanned thy cheek, 
and was no more forever. Man, in his most rapturous 
imaginings, can not reach on earth the commencement of 
Heavenly happiness. 



390 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

131. His highest attainments may be likened unto the 
Traveler, journeying unto the distant city, in which all 
near and dear unto his spirit dwell. As he approacheth 
the termination of his journey, his strength gradually fails, 
and just when the tops of the distant spires become visible, 
his happiness overcomes his feeble strength, and, freed 
from restraint, his spirit flieth home to rejoice forever 
among the rejoicing. 

132. Over his pathway Hope's taper shineth, reflecting 
purities still beyond, yet ever enjoyed as comprehended. 
Oh ! reject not this light, for without it all were dark as 
night unto thee, and thou would stumble around thy dark- 
ened circle an abject, forlorn, and hopeless creature. 

133. God hath within thee placed this yearning of Hope 
that can never die. Follow in its light, and though the 
city may seem enshrouded in misty doubts, and thy path- 
way filled almost with temptations, still struggle on, for 
he who holds out unto the end is in advance of all. 

134. Grow in strength and wisdom daily. This thou 
canst only do by living in conformity with the attributes 
of Deity. There "is no knowledge independent of God. 

135. The animals, birds, fishes, and insects, all have an 
intuitive knowledge which is, by its resultant effects upon 
them, known to be good. They enjoy life, apparently as 
happy as they possibly can be made. 

136. Man hath a knowledge above their highest powers, 
yet he receives from the same things food, and from the 
same waters quencheth his thirst. He would live and die 
a happy animal if his powers were all confined within that 
termed animal nature. 

137. He hath one gift which all the universe without 
could not equal or produce. This, the greatest of the groat, 
is his immortal spirit. Produced from essences of divine 
purity within his Heavenly Father, all else beside its bright- 
ness is dense and dark. 

138. God is the Eternal Ruler and Creator of all. Man, 
his child, hath within his spirit, necessarily, germs of these 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 391 

great powers. He is the child of a ruler, and hence hath in 
his childish nature the child's portion of the ruler and creator. 

139. No one would say that God can not govern him- 
self; and if man was by God given existence, and in that 
existence hath a spark or germ in unity with God, he must, 
as a consequence, be in a measure his own being, and, as a 
consequence again, have powers of ascending or descend- 
ing, and be in either case responsible. 

140. And wouldst thou, oh, smith, or tradesman of any 
name, wouldst thou be exempted from this responsibility ? 

141. If so, thou wouldst descend from manhood, and 
among swine feed, fatten, and die. Oh, cease to view only 
the dark parts of life, for, by constantly living in the dark, 
your eyes become weakened, and can not behold the light 
without pain. Thus this course is proven most unnatural, 
for life without light can not exist. 

142. Could you descend into the regions wherein only 
animal formations dwell ; could you lose your spiritual 
nature for one day, yet still retain a consciousness of your 
loss ; oh, what agony ! what untold horrors would freeze 
your blood ! 

143. A Man reject his manhood ? A child of God give 
up his birthright? Oh, how thankful thou shouldst be 
that this is beyond thy power ! Poor, blinded mortal, thy 
Father is good and most loving. "Why wilt thou turn down 
in the darkened way, instead of eyeing the light, and ever 
ascending toward eternal happiness ? 

144. It is thy duty to be happy. God created thee, and 
surely he is happy. The animal formations and the vege- 
table kingdom are happy, because they can not transgress. 
All, save thee, oh, Eational child of God, are blessed with 
happiness ! 

145. Didst thou seek at thy Parental fountain, wherein 
alone is thy nourishing joy, thou wouldst never seek in 
vain. The fountain is boundless, the joy therein pure as 
the enjoyments of the great and loving One, of whom thou 
art and unto whom thou wilt return. 



392 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

146. Oh, child of God — thou man of Iron muscle — thou 
God of the Trades, arise, and homeward take thy way ! 

147. Thy Father calls thee Heavenward ! Oh, labor for 
him alone, for therein canst thou only find purest earthly 
enjoyment and eternal happiness in his Holy Presence. 

148. Thus spake the Dove, and her loving tones sank 
deep into the spirit of the listener. Every word was 
weighed well, and as tone after tone convinced him that 
Love, pure and spotless as her own white plumage, was 
the cause of every word uttered, his feelings became soft- 
ened, until, as a trusting child, he learned her wisdom 
daily. 

149. Daily he grew and strengthened, until in noble 
manhood he stood up among the w T ise of earth, teaching 
them truths whose clear, transparent simplicity was pro- 
nounced almost miraculous. 

150. In his daily labor mighty thoughts hovered o'er 
him, and his brow was by angelic hands wreathed with the 
living beauties of his Heaven-home. 

151. Such is ever the fruit of the seed planted by Divine 
Inspiration. How nourishing to the thirsty spirit, and oh, 
how very congenial unto the spirit of man is the voice of 
his loving Father ! 

152. Let no man think that he is unnoticed by God. 

153. All mankind are His children, and more near and 
dear unto ITis great spirit than they can imagine. Would 
they reflect that indeed He is their Father, with all the 
feelings of a perfect Parent, surely they would act more in 
conformity with his high purity. 

154. Did they love their Heavenly Father as they love 
their own dear children, and strive as earnestly to do him 
acceptable service, they would enter into higher apprecia- 
tion of his numberless blessings bestowed upon them. 
Thou must, oh, man, enter into affinity with thy Father, to 
be enabled to enjoy his gifts, for no gift can benefit thee 
save by thy own capability of understanding that which is 
given. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

1. And now the Dove hath arisen above the earth, and 
the light of the morning sun glances from her silver wing. 
She circles around the lowly Laborers, sees them cheerfully 
commencing their daily labors — some joining with their 
rattling song their inner strains of harmony, others quietly 
working on absorbed in deep and holy thought. 

2. Through the few she hath addressed the many, for 
every one who labors outwardly is in sympathy with all ; 
and when she unfurled her flag, and revealed the brilliant 
words, "Love for the Lowly," she did not bound the mean- 
ing; 'twas endless as the love of Him whose voice she 
represented. 

3. Every tradesman, whatever his badge had been, hath 
listened gently to her tender voice, and with his lowly 
kind hath joined his "Hardened Hand and softened Heart" 
into an ensign which now is streaming from her beak, as 
heavenward she takes her way. 

4. She saw them poor and dejected, almost hopeless ; 
unto them she spake, and as they listened, Hope resumed 
her sway, poverty was stricken down by spiritual wealth, 
and dejection was turned into the sweetest smiles. 

5. As she circles around above them, a laborer casts his 
eye upward, and sees her floating in the light. He tells 
his kind, and every tool is dropped, and, as one by one 
view her, a simultaneous shout bursts from them — a burst 
of heartfelt joy, that startles the dewy morning as though 
myriad larks had risen with their song and heavenward 
flown. 

6. The Ensign is unfurled, and, with it streaming in the 



394 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

light, she swiftly flieth round them, encircling them in a 
band of holy joy ; and now with speed of light she cleaves 
the airy space, upward and onward, upward and onward. 

7. The eager gazers watch her course, and when the last 
trace of her bright form is lost in the blue ethereal vault, 
they cheerfully resume their labors with thankful spirits. 
Thankful are they that God hath spoken, and that they have 
listened unto his loving voice. 

8. They are happy as their comprehension can measure 

9. And the loved Bird centers inward toward the heav- 
enly home. As she approacheth the regions of eternal day 
she is again greeted with the "Welcome Home," sung by 
myriad angelic voices. 

10. They watch her course, and as she flieth onward, 
they catch the meaning of the simple words upon the 
streamer floating from her beak, and their inmost beings 
swell with holier joy than Heaven ever gave them before. 

11. Now she sits upon the hand of The Highest. The 
emblem of her success, "The hardened Hand and softened 
Heart," is by the Father's Hand hung high upon his 
Throne, that all may know 'tis most acceptable. 

12. Again He giveth proof of His love by crowning the 
gentle Dove with a circling Diamond, that ever reflects 
the purest light of Deity. 

13. She is bidden rest her tired wing, for again to earth 
she must go, with greater power than she before hath been 
given. 

14. From the Divine Hand her food is given, and sweet- 
est fruits that grow in Heaven are offered freety. This is 
her home, and in pure celestial joy she strengthens. She 
hath freely given and doth freely receive. She hath per- 
formed her mission in encouraging the Lowly to perform 
theirs ; thus living out all that unto them she taught as 
dutiful. 

15. Her strength increases, and new powers are given 
for her to control in her new mission. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 395 

16. Again she enters the holy Presence. Again are her 
wings plumed for combat with darkness. Again her mis- 
sion is unfolded to her view by the great and good Creator. 

17. "Go thou to earth, and my lowest children raise; 
point them upward ; give them foretastes of Heavenly joy, 
that earthly bitterness may not overcome them. Go seek 
the most forlorn, the hopeless Outcasts, and bring them 
home." 

IS. The brilliant Crown is firmly set upon her brow, that 
in the deepest darkness she shall ever have the true Light 
around her path. 

19. From His Hand she flieth. As she cleaves the 
atmospheric purity, the expectant host again wait patient- 
ly to know what new blessings she beareth downward unto 
earth. 

20. She fills them again with new joy, as another bril- 
liant flag appears floating from her beak, upon which is 
written by the hand Divine, " Hope for the Outcast." 

21. A silent, joyful spell binds their voices, for the pure 
love of their God is shown in this most holy mission. 
Gradually their tones find birth ; rising from their purest 
depths they grow and strengthen, until the dome of Heaven 
echoes back their joy in repeated strains of happiness. 

22. The Dove is overtaken in her flight by their loving 
sympathy, and with swifter wing she cleave th space 
asunder. 

23. Down, down to earth, fearless bird, thou art going, 
there to enter fearlessly the darkest dens despair hath 
built. 

21. Thou art going to show wherein is " Hope for the 
Outcast." 

25. Thy holy crown must give joy to the joyless, and 
hope to the hopeless, and light unto the darkened spirit. 

26. Where man in his selfish pride hath disdained to go, 
thou art going. Thou must prove unto all that God loveth 
only Goodness. 

27. Thou must show the most degraded " Outcast" that 



396 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

the name man hath given them had not birth in Heaven. 
Thou must prove unto God's lowest children that he hath 
never cast them from his loving spirit. 

28. Show unto man that " Outcast" is not known in the 
home of Love. In God's Perfection there is food for all, 
and none are ever denied who seek his gifts. 

29. Again she enters upon her mission. Again prepared 
to sacrifice ease and enjoyment for the will of God. Again 
does she descend from Heaven's highest to commune with 
earth's lowest. 

30. Her crown of haloed luster lighteth her way, and 
she enters fearlessly the dread regions of mental and spirit- 
ual night. 

31. She does not pause to reflect upon consequences, 
knowing that God doth send her, and that he never labors 
in vain. 

32. The unlearned in good, and skilled in errors igno- 
rance hath builded, are approached with knowledge of such 
simplicity, that they comprehend their situation with a 
sorrowful humility that proveth them to be indeed intelli- 
gent children of God. 

33. She doth not reprove them ; why should she ? Are 
they not already suffering most keenly ? And if they do 
not suffer, is not their very hardness of heart sufficient to 
create sympathy in all who have ever loved? No, the 
Yoice of God doth never reprove the fallen. 

34. And when Man hath assumed an unnatural position, 
and acted in unkindness to them ' beneath his station in 
life, let him not presume to think he is acting in imitation 
of his Father in Heaven, for God is not in him. 

35. Love worketh every man's reunion with God. And 
what is a reunion with God, save a free access unto him 
through the channel of his holy Love? Every man at 
birth and in his conception is conceived through the agency 
of Divine attributes, which attributes are as eternal as Him 
of whom they are. 

36. Every child created is a child of God, and created 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATIONS. 397 

through the agency of these eternal attributes. Gocl is not 
fallible that he should err, neither is man God that he 
should be infallible. 

37. Having within his spirit a receptacle of that which 
created him, the Divine attributes, he can never close the 
receptacle, else would he be greater than God, whose attri- 
butes created him. Cause is ever greater than effect, and 
thus can fallible man never shut himself from God's power 
of loving ; and as he hath within his spirit the germ love 
created, that germ will grow the instant Love of God falls 
upon it. 

38. Man may think God favors some and does not favor 
others of his kind, but a fallible measure can not measure 
infallibility. 

39. All men have felt that God loveth them. They may 
call him by whatever name they please, or may even be so 
ignorant as to not call upon any name representing him, 
still there is that within every human being which ever 
aspireth upward, and every child of God hath affinity for 
God as his comprehension can measure Perfection. 

40. As unto thee, oh, wise man, appears thy most igno- 
rant brother, reflect how thou must appear unto perfect 
Wisdom, and learn charity of that wisdom ! 

4:1. Man on earth, with his greatest attainment, is very 
limited. 

42. He is as a germ which eternity quickens into life, 
giving ever more pure and holy fruits, and receiving ever 
more pure enjoyments, which are fruits of higher affin- 
ities. 

43. Oh, man, when thou art reveling in luxuries on 
earth, and which are by earth produced, do not forget thy 
immortal spirit ever longs for that which is ever above and 
beyond. 

44. And when the sufferer is famishing by the wayside, 
and thou dost not minister unto him of thine abundance, 
thou dost repel the holy influences of Divine Love and 
enter into affinity with its opposite. 



398 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

45. What matter how low or degraded a brother appears 
unto thee, he is an heir of God's kingdom, which is Love 
by Light revealed. 

46. Go thou to him; if he reject thy kindly hand, offer 
again, for perfect love can never tire in well-doing. 

47. It is a fearful thing for the strong to forsake the 
weak ! 

48. Suppose that God should forsake his children, with- 
draw from their spiritual being his own sustaining light- 
within, which ever cheereth them onward and upward, 
what dread night would envelop their being ! 

49. Then why, oh, ye strong, forsake the weak ones 
among you, and thus in actions pray God to annihilate his 
own love for you ? As ye do unto others, the same do ye 
unto yourselves. 

50. If ye are selfish, ye merit a selfish reward, and 
can not of love receive lovely gifts. Ye bnild your own 
monuments on earth, and upon them sit in Heaven. 
Ye can not forsake the lowly, nor trample upon the 
degraded among God's children, without being in turn 
forsaken by the high and holier feelings enjoyed by those 
who love. 

51. Love bringeth its own reward, and this truth is that 
which regulates the opposites of the pure attribute as 
exhibited in the selfishness of man. 

52. God's Love sustaineth the meanest reptile that 
crawleth upon his footstool. 

53. His light nourisheth the lowest vegetable formation. 
Both the reptile and the lowest plant are a combination 
of parts representing an individual organization, which is 
a truth composed of and by attributes as holy as those 
creating and sustaining the body of man. 

54. The only difference in them is, that man useth more 
of the attributes than the reptile or plant. 

55. In man's body is encased the germ of higher attain- 
ments than in aught below him. His spirit is more par- 
ticularly of God, because more intimately connected with 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 399 

the Fountain of knowledge. The spirits of men are the 
only really valuable parts of them unto themselves, for at 
death of the body all else is but food for the reptiles and 
plants around their graves growing. 

56. In view of these truths, what folly to stand aloof 
from a brother simply because his body is clothed in rags, 
or because he is degraded by animal passions ! 

57. He is nourished and cherished by the same Gocl. 
He receives his scanty and coarse food from the same 
earth — breathes the same free air, if indeed he have 
strength to reach its play-ground — quencheth thirst at the 
same fountain. He lives and dies, and in life and death is 
a man. 

58. In as much as all bodies are of earth, so to speak, 
and all spirits of God, it would seem strange for a rational 
spirit to condemn a body because, perchance, it was un- 
clean, when within the body may be encased a spirit of 
higher affinities than the one condemning. 

59. Surely no man can expect to take his fine body or 
its costly covering into Heaven with him, for the very 
striving to take them diminishes his comprehension of the 
Heaven and his capability of entering its pure, spiritual 
enjoyment. 

60. All can see that God doth not value the outward 
above its deserts, for the beggar and king mutually return 
to dust, dissolved by the same laws, and by the same laws 
used unto the best advantage in the outward formations of 
nature. 

61. Their spirits, too, return just so far toward God as 
they have been fitted to approach perfect Purity. 

62. He who presumes upon his outward riches or out- 
ward poverty as being favorable in the sight of God, hath 
but poor ideas of perfect justice. 

63. A good King and a good Beggar are alike in 
Heaven ; for as God is good, goodness is Heaven. 

64. If the King despise the Beggar's rags and the beggar 
because of his rags, and the beggar in turn envies and hates 



400 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

the king, it were difficult to say which, in sight of perfect 
justice, would be most degraded. 

65. Condemnation is an infringement of perfection. He 
who transgresses the laws of God condemns himself to 
suffer the penalty, which penalty is in turn good, for it 
teacheth the law. 

66. Let no man think himself outwardly above outward 
laws, or inwardly above the spiritual regulations of his 
being. And as all are spiritually children of God, and 
bodily children of earth, let all beware how they assume 
the regulations of others. 

67. He who can see that God is good, knoweth enough 
to be good himself. And as God's goodness is bestowed 
upon all as is unto their natures best adapted, let all be 
careful to feel within them Love ere they act toward their 
erring kind. 

68. Man may seem to err in another's sight, when in 
sight of God, his real judge and rewarder, he is doing his 
greatest good. 

69. Let no man condemn another man, because God 
alone is perfect. 

70. God doth not condemn. A God of perfect love 
and wisdom can never condemn those himself created 
and who are not equally perfect and wise unto himself. 
When man feeleth condemnation, his own wisdom chides 
him for his failure to apply wisdom and love. He who 
hath not wisdom and love within to violate can not 
suffer, for these being violated, is the inward cause of 
suffering. 

71. An animal devoid of high spiritual gifts can not 
suffer from the infringement of that he has not. He can 
not infringe that he hath not knowledge of, for infringe- 
ment assumeth knowledge of that transgressed. 

72. Thus every man hath within his spirit that which 
rewards and punishes ; and for man, as a mass, to punish 
an individual, is assuming a massive responsibility. 

73. It is a pitiable sight to see man's littleness striving 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 401 

to regulate God's greatness. Why presume God so weak- 
ly, and thyself so strong ? 

74. God created thee ; thou didst not create him ! 

75. Oh, ye rulers among men, ye wise and so-called 
Great ! whence came your wisdom, or power and great- 
ness ? Who ordained you to trample on God's noblest 
work, your own brother? Beware, lest those you injure 
be more acceptable in your Father's view than your- 
selves. 

76. Charity should regulate all your actions and words. 
Not that which man hath named charity, which only giveth 
alms, but that perfect charity which is lovely sympathy 
regulated by an exalted wisdom. Ever remember ye are 
not perfect, and ever beware how you exalt yourselves, for 
selfish exaltation hath low affinities. 

77. God, the Perfect One, must be sought to be found, 
yet is he ever near. His voice is quiet and low, but, oh, 
how sweet and encouraging its tones unto all who listen ! 

78. His voice — His holy Dove — doth never chide the 
fallen, but in gentle tones of love soothes their fretted feel- 
ings. Oh ! be kind to those you think the erring. Com- 
mune with them when passion is ebbing, or when the 
calm hath followed the raging storm. 

79. Go to them with loving sympathy in thine eye, and 
thou wilt be assisted by the dormant love within them 
becoming quickened into life and action by the genial rays 
of true charity. 

80. Oh ! be loving to those who hate, help the weak, 
soften the strong. Teach all, by loving them, how to love; 
by doing them good, how to be good unto themselves and 
one another. 

81. With the degraded thou must practice, for that is 
unto them most wise and most acceptable. They might 
mistake the meaning of many words in thy teaching ; there- 
fore be simple, plain, loving, and let all result in goodness 
unto them, and they will greet thee as a good and true 
friend. 

26 



402 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

82. God hath in all things the witness of his love. The 
bright sunlight raiseth the vegetable from the earth. The 
warm rays fall upon the ocean waters ; they arise into 
clouds, are carried over the thirsting plants in nature's 
fields ; condensed, they descend in nourishing showers, 
giving drink to the thirsty, rilling the springs with new 
life, and the rivers with new strength. 

83. Who would condemn God because his waters fall 
upon the noisome places, stagnate, and create disease in all 
who approach them ? And should the places be condemned 
when they in time, from the effects of this very stagnation, 
become rich garden plots ? 

84. Oh, how short-sighted is man ! Not understanding 
causes, not being in affinity with the Cause-Fountain, he 
vieweth only effects, and wasteth time thereupon. He 
must remove causes of degradation ere he confer the great- 
est benefit upon his kind. 

85. Truth removeth error. Love removeth hatred. Light 
removeth darkness. 

86. He who knoweth these things to be truth, must teach 
them unto his kind, and thus eradicate the roots of the 
great tree of error. 

87. No man can know truth and not teach it without 
diminishing his capability of receiving it. To progress, he 
must exercise his spiritual nature in the enduring truths of 
God, thus by labor expanding his own perception of the 
truths in which happiness dwelleth. 

88. There is no idle truth, love, nor light. All are eter- 
nally active, and so are the fruits of their producing. He 
who would receive these great attributes within him must 
let them pass freely when received, else they stagnate, and 
for his part are idle, or, still worse, retrograde toward 
death. 

89. They that have should give ; they that have not 
should seek. 

90. Would the rich of earth, in wisdom and worldly 
goods, give as God giveth them, their inward peace and 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 403 

plenty would well repay them. It is impossible to do good 
without being lastingly benefited. 

91. He who doth unto his brother good hath more to be 
thankful for than he who receiveth the goodness, for he in 
the action opens his own channel wider to receive good- 
ness from God. 

92. He who striveth to raise the outcast into true man- 
hood is at the same time being raised by the fruits of the 
labor bestowed. It is utterly impossible to labor for God 
without being elevated, and no one can do good without 
laboring for Him. 

93. Oh, Man ! thy Brother calls to thee in tones of 
deepest, darkest despair, and wilt thou turn away ? Oh, if 
thou leavest him thus, thou art not entering the highest 
regions of enjoyment! Thou art willfully limiting thine 
own Heaven ; thou art cramping thy own eternal happi- 
ness ; thou art forsaking God. 



CHAPTEE XXVIII. 

1. Thus would the voice of the Dove plead for the Out- 
cast. She would fain have the strong be noble and the 
weak lovely. She would have all mankind appreciate their 
high destiny in the future, and act in the present more 
worthily. 

2. She hath turned toward the Prison, wherein are con- 
fined by high walls and iron bars the children whom God 
loveth, yet those man hath termed " Outcast." 

3. She sits upon the high window ledge. An iron bar, 
firmly imbedded in the solid wall at top and bottom, sepa- 
rates the crevice into two parts, so narrow that her outward 
form can scarcely get between the stone and iron to enter 
the narrow cell. 

4. The Bird pauses and reflects upon the works of man. 
A huge pile of stone, emblematical of the feelings which 
caused the pile to be builded. Iron Doors, grating harsh, 
discordant sounds, open slowly, admit a man, and then 
shut with a hollow sound that reverberates through the 
darkened passages — the knell of a hopeless spirit. 

5. Windows which curtail the light and air God so freely 
gave, are representatives also of the small light admitted 
into the spirits of those who formed them. 

6. And the grating door opens as the mouths of false 
teachers, entraps a spirit, and then, with a hollow laugh, 
mocks at its torture ! 

7. The Cell, upon whose window-ledge the Dove is sit- 
ting, opens. A man is ushered in, the door is quickly 
closed again and fastened from without. All is silent as 
death, save an occasional rumbling sound caused by the 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATIONS. 405 

different cells mingling their sympathy with the ones 
opened and shut. 

8. Upon the inner ledge the Dove is sitting, and she 
quietly views the one who hath entered the hopeless 
abode. 

9. His hair is matted over his brow, but as he brushes 
it aside with his hardened hand she sees deep lines which 
only guilty care could furrow. His eye is cool, and in it 
is a cell more deep and dark than the one in which his 
body is encased. His brows are heavy, and seem settling 
o'er the cells beneath, as a wintry cloud over the darkened 
pools of earth. His mouth doth seem as though Love had 
never passed its lips. Passions dire and dark are written 
in every feature. Cunning, Hatred, and Revenge have set 
their seal upon him. 

10. Downright guilt hath stained his hand— he is a 
Murderer ! Upon that brow the seal is set. Within that 
spirit Hope is a stranger. Oh ! where is mercy sufficient 
for such as he? Who can shelter him? Who raise the 
fallen hope and bid him look to God, when within him all 
is dark and drear ? 

11. He is an outcast from the sympathies of his kind. 
Their love became as it were petrified, and could not reach 
him. He forfeited all their sympathy, for he wanted it 
not. He spurned his kind with bitter hatred, and bid 
defiance to them all. In turn the mass condensed their 
hatred, and upon him, as a focal point, poured the sum of 
wrath. 

12. He planted seeds of hating passions, and they grew, 
bearing fruits that kindled rage in all who ate them. The 
fruit increased, and at last concentrated in the dire deed 
his hand had done, and which had led him to the narrow 
cell to end his days. 

13. And now he sits upon his narrow bed, gazing down 
upon the floor — his chin resting upon his hand ; but now 
'tis suddenly lifted away, and he views the instrument his 
will had used in the last fell deed. His lip curls in deri- 



406 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

sion, and again he leans down his head and gazes upon the 
solid floor beneath. 

14. He hath not ceased to think. He is still a man. 

15. He views the door; it is solid and strong; the win- 
dow is too high to reach, and too small to escape through, 
were it reached. The sides and floor of the cell are of 
massive stone. There is no hope of escaping, and again 
he sits down to contemplate the future. 

16. The Past is too vivid, the Present too dreadful, and 
his thoughts turn toward the hitherto unthought-of Future. 

17. He sees day after day coming slowly and going 
slowly — hair after hair becoming gray, until at length he 
stretches out in imagination an old form upon the bed of 
death. He starts to his feet wildly, for a gentle voice hath 
whispered, " What cometh after Death ?" 

18. And now he raves in deadly passion, clenches the 
strong door with giant strength, but the iron is as immov- 
able as the mountain whence it came. Words sweep from 
him which would almost deafen the little Dove had she 
not her God-given Crown to purify all that approached 
her. 

19. He breathes forth hatred in horrid tones — all turned 
against his brethren who were instrumental in fastening 
him within a place where his only company was his own 
dread thoughts. Prom utter exhaustion his passion ceases, 
and upon his bed he falls in agony. 

20. Sleep cometh unto the tired Murderer a sweet balm 
at times, yet again the imagination revels oft in the horrid 
deeds — again defying, hating, and acting as of old. 

21. Upon his couch he lay, and the Dove is close beside 
him. 

22. A smile stealeth over his roughened, care-worn face. 
His boyhood is around him ; a sweet Sister circles his 
brow with a rosy wreath ; a Mother greets him as her rosy 
boy, and a loving Father walks with him, hand in hand, 
around the old homestead. The friendly Dog licks his 
hand ; the purring Cat seeks his notice by rubbing gently 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 407 

against his boyish knee, and the soft summer wind tosses 
his silken curls beneath his sweet crown flowing. 

23. A happy boyhood — lovely play-ground of pure affec- 
tions — encircles him and upon his face worketh the stran- 
ger smile. 

24. As strength returns, the after-years of darkness 
crowd upon his brain, and all is revealed in such horrible 
distinctness, that his own agony awakens him. A cold dew 
hath settled over his aching brow, and he groans in spirit. 

25. Alone with his thoughts — to the erring most horri- 
ble, and. to the good most sweet is this situation ! 

26. His dreams return to him, and side by side pass 
down through his mind. Childhood is far away in the 
days of innocence, and manhood is far gone in crime. He 
contrasts the two, and the childish innocence becometh 
brighter by the contrast. His mother's lessons come to 
his mind, and again he instinctively repeats them. 

27. The olden joy seemeth let loose upon him to torture 
his present hours. Then he loved, hoped, and was happy. 
Again he startles, for again came welling up the tones 
heard once before, " Love, hope, and be happy ;" and 
again the overburdened brain gives forth thoughts most 
passionate. 

28. Thus within him rages a war more bitter than any 
strife he ever had with man. Within his darkened cell he 
battles with his darker thoughts, yet a seed is planted 
whose fruit in time shall bring forth fruit acceptable. 

29. As day after day passes over him, his mind be- 
comes more calmed, more contented with his lot, and his 
thoughts are ever played upon by the gentle Dove, who 
seemeth more bright and lovely from her contact with the 
opposite unto her purity. 

30. When passions sleep, she speaketh unto the weak- 
ened spirit, ever bidding it to hope. First in tones whose 
very sweetness stirred within the prisoner deepest, darkest 
hatred ; yet the hatred raging, proved to her that within his 
spirit love had dared to stir. 



408 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

31. As her soft tone thrilled through his spiritual being, 
his animal nature, swelled and corrupted with dominant 
sway, arose in its might to strangle the stranger voice. 

32. "When God speaketh, the speaking regulates all in 
wisdom. His tones can never be smothered by flesh, for 
the spirit vibrates, unheeding aught save the power which 
made it. And even the poor, stained child can not more 
limit or get beyond this voice than can the goodest man on 
earth. God's Love is illimitable. His love doth not favor 
a chosen few, and upon them lavish eternal joys, leaving 
part, and the most part, of his children empty. 

33. As time wore on, the Prisoner did not dread his 
thoughts so much as of old. He gradually softened in 
spirit, and gradually ceased to chafe against the circum- 
stances in which he was placed. Old passions weakened 
for want of food from without, and old loves came welling 
up within him in refreshing strength. 

34. Stain was upon him, and he dared not ask forgive- 
ness of God. He ever faced the victim of his wrath when 
his thoughts turned toward the future. His spirit wan- 
dered back to the early days, and traced the footsteps 
downward unto the darkened present. He played again in 
the old, long- forsaken home — again enjoyed boyish plea- 
sure — and again in boyish measure was happy. 

35. In seeking oft the play-grounds of memory his spirit 
became more tranquil, and in such moments the whisper- 
ings of the Dove were clearly and distinctly heard. It was 
her sweet presence that called up the innocent days of 
childhood ; her voice assumed a mother's loving tone, and 
again communed with him as upon her knee he in fancy 
sat. 

36. Time brought forth tears in answer to the reflections 
in the solitary cell. He wept as only the hopeless can 
weep. His agony was so intense, that, to behold it, were 
far more painful than to witness the rage of his deadly 
passions. 

37. In Agony is Hope born. God doth bring forth from 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 409 

man's agonized spirit the Hope-balm to soothe the sufferer. 
He bringeth forth from his opposites the balm which must 
heal the wound of the erring. As the drouth of earth 
asketh of God rain, so doth the agonized spirit ask for the 
dews of Hope. 

38. God worketh his own Glory out of all opposing ele- 
ments. As the Prisoner wept in hopeless agony of spirit? 
a gentle voice whispered, " Hope." Alas ! he felt forever 
an outcast from God and man. Again the voice whis- 
pered, " God loveth All ;" and the tones were so clear and 
distinct, that he trembled as though in the presence of some 
great unknown power. 

39. Within his spirit a seed is planted, which in coming 
ages shall bloom in Heaven. Hope hath at length pene- 
trated to the suffering spirit, and is absorbing and purify- 
ing the passions of the degraded one. It is a slow and 
difficult task. Passions that have held the sway of man's 
being, gradually encroaching upon the spiritual powers, 
until they have entire control, are hard, very hard, to 
remove. 

40. As passions are formed, so must they be extermi- 
nated. Root by root must be removed, and branch after 
branch be taken off, keeping up a destroying balance ; 
even as the growth accumulated into the sturdy tree, so 
must the tree be diminished by the growth of that which 
its growth proportionately diminished. 

41. Hope is a natural tenant in the human spirit, and if 
the tenant be gradually diminished in power, the forces 
that diminish it are in the same proportion strengthened, 
and when it again commences growing, it must be at the 
expense of the opposing forces. 

42. Prayer is want; and there is no prayer not want, 
and no want that is not prayer. Neither is there any 
prayer unanswered ; for if unanswered, it is not prayer. 

43. The agony of the suffering spirit is as much prayer as 
though words were used to imperfectly express the agony. 
Yet as the capability of the spirit to receive blessings is 



410 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

diminished for lack of exercise, it can only receive that 
which hath been termed the seed of Hope. 

44. To suppose a Murderer could by prayer elevate him- 
self to the fullest enjoyment of Heaven instantly, would be 
to suppose him capable of influencing God to annihilate 
his own laws of progression, thus giving the crime which 
caused his hopeless prayer a higher station than the great- 
est earthly virtues ! 

45. Such belief would make God criminal by favor- 
ing crime, and man hopelessly degraded. Let no man 
think he can act against the dictations of his conscience 
with impunity, for God's just attributes regulate his re- 
wards and punishments, and for every action is he respon- 
sible. 

46. Yet the outer action, as hath elsewhere been said, is 
but the result of the will, which will furnishes the con- 
demning proof of intended action, though the real act may 
be hindered. 

47. Surely there is nothing in the outer creation to prove 
that a barren tree can instantly bring forth good fruits ; 
neither is there in man's nature any thing to prove that he 
can instantly step from degrading crime into exalted virtue. 
It can not be done. 

48. He who knowingly errs creates an affinity for error. 
All error is a known opposite of truth. He who knows 
the truth, yet will not use it, errs ; whereas, if he know not, 
there is no error to him. 

49. Those only are degraded who know of their degrada- 
tion. God doth not condemn, as hath been said, and they 
who do not know error can not transgress ; and they who 
know not truth have no Individual progression. 

50. Crime is never nearer God than virtue. Ignorance 
is irresponsible and unprogressible. He who taketh the 
plea of Ignorance should remember that knowledge of truth 
alone giveth comprehension to Heaven. 

51. Ignorance in reality is sufficient excuse for seeming 
transgression ; but he who pleads ignorance, yet is not 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 411 

ignorant, is pleading with God to cut him off from happi- 
ness, for he is pleading for the opposite of Heaven. 

52. The ignorant man must ever seem to transgress, as 
viewed by the wise man ; yet also, the most wise, by the 
same scale, must seem to transgress when viewed by per- 
fect Wisdom, and Charity is found to be the fruit of greatest 
knowledge. 

53. He who knowingly transgresses his own known duty, 
willfully descends toward the region of less knowledge, for 
no man hath knowledge he will not use. His spirit must 
be active. He must ascend or descend, and within himself 
is the reward or its opposite. 

54. To ascend toward God is simply to increase compre- 
hension of his Eternal Truths, in which truths Love and 
Light dwell, great attributes of the Eternal Father. 

55. Thus the Dove speaketh unto the tried prisoned 
spirit, and encourageth him to look hopefully forward. She 
doth not hold up false lights, and encourage him to run 
headlong after them. She doth not even encourage him to 
word his feelings, and thus address his God, asking for 
help, but she striveth to strengthen his reliance upon his 
own inward nature. She striveth to convince his under- 
standing that God is too good to hopelessly annihilate his 
own works, or to reward wherein reward is not merited. 

56. She would have him atone for crime by eradicating 
the roots from which crime grew. He is shut from his 
crime, away from his kindred, and can not in outer deeds 
do them good. He is encouraged to strive within himself 
for the good which endureth. 

57. Hope is nourished, and its roots are firmly imbedded 
in his spirit 

58. He who becomes convinced that goodness alone is 
enduring, is prepared to act in accordance with his good 
inward instructions. Every thought is weighed well, and 
the enduring part retained. The good is deducted from 
every inward feeling, and added drop by drop unto the 
little Hope- plant, which in turn retains a part thereof, and 



412 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

thus is progression commenced within the spirit of the 
Outcast. 

59. Slow indeed is the process. When starting toward 
the far-off realms of peace, the passion-swayed mind can 
move but slowly. 

60. The organs are all in a measure diseased, and to find 
and substantiate truths, so as to be able to rely upon them, 
is a hard task. 

61. Those who fearlessly enter on the downward path 
should never forget that to return is very difficult. When 
all the machinery the spirit must use becometh clogged 
and stiffened from abuse, it is difficult to gain perfect mas- 
tery over it, and again use it to deduce evidence that God 
is indeed good, and man his loved child. 

62. Plants that have been kept in the dark are tender 
and weak. 

63. Man's spirit, when encased in a darkened cell of 
fleshy passions, must also become weakened, and form 
affinities of lower natures, thus in reality tying itself down 
nearer the confines of darkness. 

64. To ascend, these numerous ties must be gradually 
severed. One by one old passions and habits of body and 
mind must be loosened and weakened, and thus in time 
allow the spirit to regain its sway, its own balance of 
power ; and when this desirable point is attained, onward 
and upward, faster and still firm, will be the ascension. 

65. The mind of the Outcast gradually softened beneath 
the gentle flow of love. Tone after tone vibrated within 
him until he felt far happier than at first lie had dared to 
anticipate. 

66. Hope was nourished by attracted light, grew and 
strengthened, and as it grew, passions seemed more un- 
couth and horrid, and were more dreaded than ever before. 

67. As light gradually dawned upon the darkened mind, 
love came forth with it, and the spirit regained daily more 
power over the darkened hate which had from indulged 
passions resulted. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 4:13 

68. As his mind gradually drank in truths, the fruits of 
solitary reflection, his former degradation opened to his 
view in colors so dread that he trembled at thought of what 
he had been, and from him burst a prayer of thankfulness 
that he could see in truthful light the dark pit upon whose 
brink he had formerly stood. 

69. Then he had laughed at those who feared to enter 
his downward path ; now he thanked God that his very 
boldness had terrified others from becoming as he had 
been. Oh, how thankful was he for the continued gift of 
life, that in time he might wipe out the stains of time and 
fit him for the joys of an eternity. 

70. His narrow cell became his temple of rejoicing. 
As he sat upon his little bed, hour after hour, • or paced to 
and fro in reflection, an inward peace lit up his being with 
holier joy than had for years before been known. 

71. His quiet, respectful demeanor won for him the 
respect and sympathy of his Keeper. As he daily gave 
him food, and daily received thanks for his trouble, the 
man of the Keys wondered how it was possible for one so 
deeply dyed to speak in such gentle tones ; little did he 
know that changes great and good had overcome the 
animal, and again created Man within his prisoner. 

72. Day after day, month after month, and year after 
year had he watched the sunlight as it scribed a little arc 
upon his surrounding walls — had learned the days and 
nights by rote, and they had ever written, " Hope is 
strengthening" within his lonely spirit. 

73. As time wore on, the Jailer became more social, and 
at last would come and sit beside his prisoner, and in a 
friendly manner chat of times gone by. He instructed the 
prisoner in the things of the present, and in return was 
instructed in the joys of the future. 

74. He wondered where the guilty one could have learned 
such great yet simple truths. He was the only man that 
had seen him for years, and the truths to him were new 
and most strange. He saw a man condemned for Murder 



41i THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

to solitary imprisonment for life, listened to his voice, and 
found him a hoping, loving, and patient Brother ! 

75. They became almost brotherly in their communion. 
The Jailer was ever astonished at the simple yet strong 
conclusions of his Prisoner, and ever felt refreshed from 
listening to his hopeful voice. 

76. The prisoner was thankful for an outlet to his bur- 
dened feelings, and daily poured forth truths the Dove had 
daily taught him, into the ear of his friend, who eagerly 
drank in the delicious draught, and in return his sympathy 
kindled for the good man confined within the cell, there to 
stay till death should terminate his earthly existence. 

77. Days passed thus, months followed, and the prisoner 
thanked God — whom he had unconsciously learned daily 
to address — that a friend had been permitted to come and 
commune with him. 

78. As he was sitting upon his narrow bed one morning, 
the Jailer entered with a man closely following him, who 
threw a bundle upon the bed. They requested him to sit 
down, and the jailer's friend trimmed off his long beard 
and hair and then left them alone. 

79. Slowly the Jailer drew from his pocket a Sealed 
Paper, which in agitated voice he read to his Prisoner. It 
was an official liberation from imprisonment ! It was Life 
to the Dead ! 

80. The Prisoner drank the unexpected, delicious draught, 
but it was too much for man to bear. He essayed to speak 
— words would not come — his breath ceased, and, stagger- 
ing forward, would have fallen prostrate upon the stone 
floor but for the strong arms of the friendly Jailer. 

81. The keeper had quietly and earnestly besought the 
Executive clemency, which had finally resulted in success, 
and then with all hopes firmly fixed in the reality, had 
come to surprise his friend with new life. And who had 
helped the keeper? Oh, God! how good thou art, and 
1'iow little dp men know thee ! 

82. Gradually sensation returned to the Prisoner, and 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 415 

gradually the full light of freedom flashed upon his dawn- 
ing senses. 

83. His spirit sought his God, and, in tones that filled 
his friend's being with foretastes of Heaven's joy, poured 
forth a strain of pure thanksgiving and praise for blessings 
unnumbered that had sought him out and filled his long 
Cell-home with joys so sweet. 

84. And the Dove whispers in his ear, "All is well." 
Turning to his liberating friend, she whispers, " Love is 
Heavenly food, and thou hast this day earned thy portion." 
Oh, what holy joy circles around all good actions ! How 
happy are they who only do the will of God ! 

85. As strength returns, the Prisoner is dressed in gar- 
ments such as free men wear, and is handed a mirror by 
his friend, that he may know his outward form. The face 
seems strange, and he can scarce believe it is indeed the 
same one he used to view in the far-off days of crime. The 
brow, though older far, is smoother; the eye is gentler, 
and the mouth seemeth clothed in smiles. 

86. He opens and shuts his eyes, speaks with his mouth, 
and passes his hand across his brow before, indeed, he can 
believe the glass reflects himself — so different is the image 
from that which of old he viewed. 

87. He bids his old, familiar home adieu, almost sor- 
rowing as before him flit the sweet communings of his 
lonesome hours ; and, leaning upon his friend's arm, passes 
along the darkened way by cells ranged on either side, 
and numbered in order, and his spirit goeth out in sympa- 
thy unto the hopeless inmates. 

88. He hath tasted of Heavenly joy within his narrow 
cell, and he longs to impart his simple experience to every 
guilty brother on earth. 

89. He feels under such great obligation unto the One 
who opened his hardened nature, and upon his spirit 
poured sweet, refreshing love, that ere the outer door is 
reached he hath firmly resolved to prove himself until 
death The Outcast's Feiend. 



416 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

90. And uow the outer door is reached. With tears, 
but never a word, the Jailer presses his hand and gives 
him a well-filled purse. The Prisoner returns the pressure 
of the friendly hand — he can not speak, but points upward 
toward God, who alone, he feels, can amply reward such 
noble friendship. 

91. The Door opens slowly — he passes out — 'tis closed, 
and the huge bolt driven to its socket by the massive key 
within. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

1. A beight spring morning greets him with glorious 
light. The new-risen Sun smiles upon him ; the birds sing, 
and the sweet, refreshing air fans him, as though he were 
the favorite child of Day. 

2. Oh! what joy elates him! What untold happiness 
fills his being, as indeed he feels himself a Man again ! 
Free, standing upon God's green earth, breathing God's 
pure air, and peering once again through God's pure 
Light ! 

3. Oh, how thankful he feels for deliverance! Hope 
had never whispered of this sweet morning ; she had told 
him of the Heavenly dawn, but had never held up that 
which man could control, and bid him build upon it. He 
had sought the freedom of Heaven, and behold this freedom 
was added thereunto. He had sought God, and man had 
favored him. 

4. As he gazeth round, and inhales the joy-inspiring air, 
a startled Lark riseth toward Heaven, singing the song of 
the Free. His spirit joins the strain, and once again un- 
burdens itself before the Throne of his merciful Father. 

5. There is an earthly Heaven. The dewy morning of 
Spring, to the imprisoned senses, when it first breaks upon 
them, is truly the highest material heaven. 

6. Thus felt the Freeman. He had never known that 
trees and shrubs, green grass, dusty earth, bright sunlight, 
and pure air, joined in unison by the sweet warbling of 
birds, were an earthly paradise before. Now, when viewed 
for the first time since, years ago, he entered the night, all 
is indeed lovely. 

. 27 



418 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

7. He walks away ; how strange the air feels, playing 
around bis face and limbs ! The light, too, quickens bis 
pulse, and he feels to express his joy in childish gam- 
bols ! 

8. He is alone with God and the early morning scene ; 
and, oh, how happy he feels ! 

9. What shall he do ? Whither go ? 

10. His mind wanders back to the scenes of his child- 
hood, when all was fresh and pure as this new morning. 
Thanks to his Friend, his clothing passes him along unob- 
served among the busy throng that thicken around him as 
the day grows old ; and, following his first longing desire, 
he turns him homeward. 

11. Years have changed all things his eyes look upon ; 
and he is thankful that himself hath changed so much in 
appearance that no one recognizes him as he journeys on. 

12. He had left his early home, and in a life of crime 
had wandered far away from those his childhood loved. 
Again he longed to view the scenes so dear and the friends 
so near to his spirit. He had been thought of by all save 
One as among the dead. 

13. The Aged Mother had daily thought of her loved 
one ; had daily prayed for his welfare, and had daily hoped 
that she might yet see him ere she bid adieu to earth. 

14. The Father had long since ceased to think of the 
son as alive, yet had quietly listened to the hopeful tones 
of her he. loved, and never chided her for her love of the 
lost one. 

15. The gentle Sister remembered him as her early play- 
mate, and ever tended the flowers they had together twined 
in lovely wreaths. 

16. She had heard strange rumors of him they all so 
fondly loved, but had locked them within her breast, keep- 
ing the parents in ignorance of that which long ago had 
pained her so deeply. 

17. As they were sitting around the evening meal, 
silently enjoying their earned food, the soft light of the 



THE HEALING- OF THE NATIONS. 419 

setting sun peered in through the window, as though to 
leave a lovely blessing ere he retired from view. A gentle 
breeze was playing among the little spring leaves upon the 
old tree by the door, and the little bird sat in the branches, 
singing the song of true contentment. 

18. Their quiet reflections and quiet repast are broken 
by a step upon the sanded walk. Nearer and still nearer 
it approaches. The Mother's hand trembles, as toward 
her lip the cup she raises, and as a form crosses the 
threshold of the open door it drops, and she exclaims, 
at first view of the stranger, "Thank God, he's come at 
last!" 

19. What joy envelops their beings ! The Mother weeps 
aloud ; the Father views the long-lost son with tears qui- 
etly coursing down his aged cheek ; and the sister weeps 
and smiles, and kisses his brow, as though he were again 
the little playmate so fondly loved. 

20. Few words are spoken, for words can not convey 
such feelings. 

21. The found one seems too full for utterance. His 
aspirations are going heavenward, to again attempt to 
thank his Good Father that at last he viewed all the scenes 
of childhood, and, oh ! more than all, that his own dear 
family were found alive to bless his return. 

22. The aged pair seem to have obtained all that Heaven 
could on earth bestow, and happiness fills them to over- 
flowing. The Sister and the Brother are again rambling 
hand in hand over and among the oft-frequented fields 
and wood, and many a chat of the olden time enlivens 
their joy. 

23. They do not ask him whither he has roamed, and he 
keeps all to himself. They see him as a quiet, peaceful 
son and brother, and as such, pour upon him their love, 
which he freely returns. 

24. Days and weeks pass thus, in such happiness as only 
the reunited family can experience. There is no separa- 
tion so dreadful as that which enters into different affini- 



420 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

ties, for a family thus separated can not again be one, 
neither on earth nor in Heaven. 

25. The Prison-life of the erring one had softened him, 
and his old affinities had daily grown and strengthened, 
until they, from memories dear, had formed a new link, 
binding him to his family firmer than that in childhood 
woven. 

26. He had come to see his family and home once more, 
but in all the joys thereof had not forgotten the vow taken 
ere he breathed the air of freedom, or entered again the 
pure light of Day. He told the loved ones that his suffer- 
ing kind demanded loudly his care, and that while strength 
lasted he must strive and repay his Heavenly Father for 
countless blessings received. 

27. In all his joy he could not forget the half-score years 
of prison-life, and his feelings yearned toward those who 
were still confined in the hopeless cells of stone, and his 
spirit sympathized with every spirit encased in such dire 
passions as it had been when first the outer cell was 
entered. 

28. He longed to open their doors, and with truth make 
them to know freedom. He loved them as he felt God had 
loved him, in the days of his greatest need, and he longed 
to prove that love in deeds of goodness. 

29. He had experienced joy within his lonely cell, and 
he wished to show his erring kind how to search for that 
joy within their own spirits. 

30. Again he prepared to leave his home ; but, oh, how 
very different his feelings from those with which he for- 
merly left it! Now all was peace and inward joy — now 
his parents called upon God to bless his efforts in man's 
behalf, and his sister felt proud of her noble brother. 
When first he went 'twas in the night, and only his faithful 
dog whined as his silent steps receded from the loved 
home ; all else were locked in sleep, and he stole away as 
one laden with conscious guilt. 

31. A last view is taken of the happy scenes, but not 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 421 

without hope of again returning. A last pressure of 
friendly hands and last blessings are received, but all are 
hopeful, and feel they have been reunited, to be separated 
no more forever in spirit. 

32. Their bodies are going apart, but their spiritual union 
is now complete, and can never more be severed. It was 
an union sought in prayerful love, and, in answer to the 
united prayer, union descended from Heaven, and blessed 
them in Heavenly happiness, giving all that spirit could 
crave. 

33. He goeth forth on his errand of mercy a happy Man. 

34. And where are those old passions which grew and 
strengthened with his manhood ? Where is the influence 
of years of heedless crime ? They are entombed in the 
Past. A firm reliance upon his own manhood, upon the 
quiet dictations within him, has rendered the Outcast a 
Man. A good man has come forth from the midst of de- 
stroying elements ; 

35. And he now goes forth to preach this which in prac- 
tice blessed him. 

36. He goes to teach the erring that they are children 
of God, who loveth them, and he proveth this love by 
relating his own experience. 

37. He raises their ideas of their own strength and of 
God's enduring goodness — thus encouraging them to seek 
each one for himself his own glorious reward, by forsaking 
crime and criminal thoughts, and turning upward toward 
Heaven. 

38. He enters their cells, and speaks of the future to 
them. He tells them man's transgression can never anni- 
hilate God's good laws of progression. That, however de- 
graded man may become, God is still the same, and that 
man alone must work out his own progression by faithfully 
striving after truth and righteousness. 

39. He does not preach to them immediate redemption, 
but proveth to them by their very progress in crime that 
they must progress also in goodness in the same manner, 



422 THE HEALING OF THE NATION So 

in as much as they have but one spirit, which in the one 
case retards, and in the other by precisely the same efforts 
helps, them up the plane. 

40. With no books, but with a friendly smile, he ap- 
proaches them. His eye reveals the love he feels, and his 
tones teach them wisdom at every breath. With plain, 
simple words he tells them of things they know to be truth 
from their own experience. 

41. His appeals are all directed to their spiritual man- 
hood. They see and respect his desires to do them good 
unconditionally. 

42. He becometh an instrument in the hands of the Dove, 
and speaketh her promptings as plainly and simply as they 
are received. 

43. The most degraded are sought out in their lowly 
haunts, and taught by one who knoweth all their feelings, 
that there is a better way — one leading to higher planes of 
enjoyment, and no more difficult to find than their own 
darkened way. 

44. God smileth upon the Outcast's Friend. Every step 
he taketh is guarded by an unseen but not unfelt hand. 
Every word is Hope, every tone Love, and every action 
reveals wisdom unto the erring ones whom he seeketh out. 

45. He never chides them — is always gentle — so gentle, 
even among their coarse jeering at his simple, trusting 
spirit, that they marvel at the power that sustains such an 
one. 

46. They cease their coarseness, and cluster round him ; 
the premeditated injury to his person is suspended, and 
they listen to his plain, unvarnished tale of Life. He paints 
it not, for it is so dark that the boldest shudder at the true 
recital of Guilt, 

47. Oh, Crime ! thou art an uncouth thing to the spirit 
of man ! 

48. He may think he loveth thee, but he knoweth not 
his nature. 

49. Thou art the opposite of Love, and from his soul thou 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 423 

art despised, though he may scarce believe it, and think he 
likes thee ! , 

50. Like darkness ? Love the opposite of Light ? Man 
love the opposite unto God, which is Chaos ? Love com- 
eth from God, and hath no affinity for aught save good- 
ness. And man to love can only love that which he be- 
lieveth good. 

51. The outcasts shudder at his crimes. His quiet voice 
sounds hollow and low as he turns the darkened spots in 
his eventful life, and they cling around him as though he 
clothed them in a magic spell by the simple words of too 
fearful Truth. 

52. But when he cometh through and onward to the 
Prison-life, his voice is firmer and his tones clearer. 
"Words are not sought, they come ; nearer and still nearer 
to their troubled spirits his tones vibrate. In the silent 
recesses of the Outlawed Cave his voice resounds clear, 
deep, and strong. The listening group seem spell-bound ; 
they can only listen, and, listening, can but believe that all 
they hear is truth. 

53. Can it be possible that such an one could be for- 
given ? Is there a God so merciful ? And is this the one 
who was fabled as the bravest of the Outcasts ? Such 
questions flit through their minds. 

54. When he cometh to the joyous dawn of the new life 
and its effect upon him — to the journey Homeward, and 
his reception therein — to the childhood scenes — all that to 
him was dear, his narrative ceases, his feelings are too big 
for utterance, the tears coursing down his cheeks convey 
all that words could tell. 

55. The group of swarthy countenances clustering around 
k the fire are revealed in intense sympathy, gazing upon him. 
He had touched them all. Oh, Home ! Thou word of 
mellow sound — thou all to man on earth ! Thou dost ever 
circle round the Outcast's barren hearth. He can not repel 
thy olden joy — can not forget the pride he felt in thee, a 
boy, by a loving Mother's side ! 



424 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

56. He loves thee as lie hates control, and thou dost 
pour upon his soul hopes most bright, and joyful light en- 
shrouds thee. As back through the troubled years he 
gazeth, tears of sorrow flow — the tear which ever raiseth 
Hope in all below. 

57. Oh, Home! thou earth-Heaven! To those that roam 
thou art given — a ray of Light, which, day or night, will 
ever lighten ; a holy gleam of joy doth seem to halo round 
thy name, and ever send thee as a friendly ray to brighten 
hope anew. 

58. Home to the outcast is as Heaven unto the good. 

59. Again the Friend commenceth. Again words flow 
from him unconsciously as they are given into his spirit 
for utterance. 

60. Oh, why forsake God, when man hath cast you out ? 
Why forsake happiness, when it were so easily obtained ? 
Why forsake that which is proven good by the very hatred 
you have within you ? Why cling around the broken shaft, 
when fruits are growing plenty ? 

61. Children of Day ! why do ye forsake the light ? 
Why wander away, and in deepest, darkest night strive to 
hide from the love of God ? 

62. Do ye not see in your hatred a fierce fire burning, 
that almost consumeth the ever-rebelling spirit ? Why at 
times do ye dread to be left alone with your thoughts ? 
Why do ye think at all, when ye have turned against the 
Creator of Thought ? Unto all of these questions Truth 
answereth, A Perfect God ruleth all things ; man can not 
cease to be his child, and can not escape his boundless 
Love. 

63. There is no being totally depraved. There is no 
being that hath not good within its very existence. There 
is no being independent of the Creator, else indeed it must 
be his opposite, for he is perfect. If a man could be totally 
depraved, then the plan and Planner would of necessity be 
imperfect. 

64. Total depravity, that is, being entirely cut off from 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 425 

God, yet existing, would be giving the depravity prece- 
dence over the greatest of all save God. The totally 
depraved would be free of even God's control, and error 
would free them instead of truth ; and wherein could hope 
be found ? 

65. All existence must cease ere total depravity enter ; 
light must vanish ere darkness exist. 

66. And after tracing thus, depravity is found to be that 
which might be termed conscious guilt or known error. 

67. He who is guilty, yet knows of his guilt, hath knowl- 
edge that he is guilty if unthankful for. 

68. God hath never given man powers equal unto his 
own, else he would know all things, and all would be very 
good. Knowledge of happiness is happiness. Knowledge 
is Practical. He who knoweth, yet doeth not, loseth power 
long to know 

69. True knowledge or wisdom can never be wasted. 
He who is guilty and knows of his guilt, is rendered guilty 
from his testimony, which is in his own wisdom given. 

70. Perfect Wisdom and Perfect Ignorance are or would 
be, could they both exist, equally innocent. God, existing 
in Perfect Wisdom, what can be Perfect Ignorance, save a 
perfect blank or void ? 

71. It hath been given man alone to know error. He 
alone progresseth ; and to progress, he must know truth in 
its comparative brightness, which, reversed, showeth that, 
termed error, in its comparative darkness. 

72. Existence, void of spirit, knoweth not, and, in not 
knowing, is innocent, because regulated by God's wisdom. 

73. When man falleth he knoweth of it, else he doth not 
fall. 

74. When he riseth he knoweth of it, else he can not 
rise. 

75. And how does he know ? God giveth knowledge 
and power of comprehension within man's spirit. A fall is 
not acting up to the comprehension ; a rise is striving to 
expand the comprehension. 



426 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

76. Thus we see again that man is his own, yet God's — 
his own being, yet the child of God. 

77. Thus, also, we see that Guilt can not separate man 
entirely from God, but also see that as the spirit alone 
comprehendeth truth, the spirit alone should sway all con- 
nected with man. 

78. God knoweth perfect Wisdom, also its opposite. 
Man is in God's Image, and must learn of that which his 
Father knoweth. 

79. To approach Perfection, he must know of his ap- 
proach gradually. 

80. To recede from perfection he must also know of the 
receding, for the knowledge is a result of the same wisdom 
of God. 

81. Whilst ascending toward God, the aspirations are ever 
firmer and more trusting, more clear, wise, and enduring. 

82. Whilst descending, the good knowledge, ever strong- 
est, chides the erring one for not filling the comprehension 
given him. Both are alike — both the good monitor placed 
within all men to guide them Heavenward. 

83. The Good man is ever strengthened, and as he pro- 
gresses upward, holier joy greets his every step, ever beck- 
oning him onward and upward. 

84. The one who enters the opposite course hath precise- 
ly the same impulses, for God doth not help one and hinder 
the other ; and he also hath that within whicli ever point- 
eth in the opposite direction to that in which his feet are 
treading. 

85. Oh, how Good is God ! How often hath this been 
spoken by the lips of man — how very little his spirit hath 
comprehended of its great depth ! 

86. Oh, how blind is man ! He hath light, yet will not 
see ; he hath Hope, yet will not use it. God hath made 
his spirit Free, yet flesh doth ever abuse it. 

87. Light, clear and strong, shall yet deliver man from 
his darkened passions, and Love flow like a river in the 
void liis hate hath dug. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 427 

88. Hope on — hope on, thou wearied Outcast. God is 
ever the same kind parent. Thou art known unto him 
even as thou art. Oh, as thou knowest thyself, in the knowl- 
edge act, and he will ever bless thy efforts. 

89. However deeply dyed in conscious guilt — however 
helpless or despairing, remember that God did create thee, 
and in this did bestow blessings unto thee which are per- 
fect and can not be shunned or exterminated. 

90. As thou dost know of thy guilt, of thy falling short 
of that which thou knowest to be required of thee, behold 
the blessing of knowledge 

91. Thy actions — in the fierce nature of the spiritless 
animal — are of necessity harmless, they acting merely as 
their natural instincts dictate ; but in thee they are crim- 
inal, because of thy power of choosing to do nobler and 
worthier deeds. 

92. Every man is responsible for his comprehension and 
actions to which it leadeth. He is not the cause or com- 
mencement of his comprehension, for he doth not create 
himself, and can only be responsible for it as given. If he 
understandeth goodness, for the goodness he should live. 
If he do not understand, how can he be good ? 

93. Innocence and goodness are distinct and separate 
results. 

94. Innocence may be inactive, may be ignorant. Good- 
ness is ever active, as proven by all that man can under- 
stand. 

95. The Infant is innocent, yet inactive in goodness. The 
wise man is active in goodness, yet can not see himself at 
the same time in the eyes of Perfection as purely innocent. 

96. Man, to become wise, must pass from Innocence 
through progression to goodness. God is innocent, and he 
is good ; but man is not God, and is not perfect. God hath 
the beginning and ending within himself. 

97. Man begins in innocence, because his beginning is 
of God ; he ends in wisdom and goodness, because wis- 
dom and goodness of God endeth all things. There can 



428 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

be no beginning nor ending with the great and good 
Creator. 

98. Wisdom is learned from opposites. God is learned 
from man's transgression. He is also learned more of from 
man's progression. 

99. Transgression is the first step from Innocence toward 
Goodness. 

100. The spirit of man must ever oppose the earth in 
which it is confined, for the one tendeth upward, the other 
downward. 

101. Man must bring himself to a knowledge of all 
things, and also of that which is termed the opposite of all 
things — chaos, ere his progression cease. In as much as 
God is Perfect, man can never progress to an understanding 
of his infinite wisdom, for progression proveth imperfection 
in the being in which it is implanted. 

102. They who by fearful contrasts learn wisdom's brill- 
iant ways and tread therein, are wise indeed. The Guilty 
practice what they know to be wrong, and by bitter lessons 
learn that forsaking their own high ideas of right, bringeth 
indeed most bitter rewards. 

103. They learn that misery and despair are natural fruits 
of hatred. 

104. They learn that the opposite of goodness is not wis- 
dom such as giveth man high pleasure. 

105. They who lead the trusting astray and know of their 
deeds, are fearfully responsible, yet justice giveth them, in 
returning, the same pure joy that the virtuous on the same 
plane of comprehension experience. 

106. God's light ever shineth. They that in it learn 
pure wisdom, and can at a distance view the opposites of 
creation working out his Glory, should be most thankful. 
They who cope with darkness, baring their breasts to the 
storm should learn from the very storm, and the calm 
following it, that God doth pity them, and that he is mer- 
ciful. 

107. He who teacheth that God condemneth man to 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 429 

endless torture for the results of his organization, is a 
stranger to wisdom. 

108. Such doctrines make their God criminal ; they mak& 
him to be a slave to folly, and they who worship such a 
being are most foolish. 

109. Why make error to be an eternal attribute of God 
instead of Truth ? 

110. Why make Him to hate instead of teaching his 
Love ? Why enshroud Him in man's darkness, instead of 
pointing man to His Light ? 

111. Oh, who are so cast out from God's love as they 
who strive to make him as a man-hater ? They are within 
as dark as the Outcast is represented to be by the outer 
actions of his life ! They act toward God as he doth to- 
ward man ! They coin poisoning thoughts, and give the 
results unto man ; he drinks, and in the draught are they 
condemn edo 

112. All men look to God. Same high Wisdom and 
Goodness are by all men sought. The Name is not the 
Creator ; all names may represent the same to all, if viewed 
alike. Man, if left untrammeled by another's views, would 
follow of necessity his own inner light, because it is the 
greatest and most wise part of him. 

113. Then how unenviable the position of those who 
teach, knowing not ; and how necessary the despair of con- 
scious guiltiness to reform the erring, and by experience 
teach them that to turn away from God is to reap abundant 
unhappiness. 

114. If this were not so, where would be man's safeguard 
against all betrayers ? Wherein could the ignorant be 
sheltered from those who were more selfish than them- 
selves ? Wherein could Hope be found to cheer the hope- 
less Outcast ? 

115. Oh, Outcasts, view in your torture God's goodness 
unto you ! 

116. Yiew in your despair the proof that Love bringeth 
joy ; view in your descent the progress which, reversed, 



430 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

can alone bring you up to God. View in your darkened 
present the Chaos whence will come light, if you sincerely 
desire God to command it forth. 

117. Did ye not have this safeguard to ever check you — 
the Light- within to make you suffer for the darkness with- 
out — whither would you go ? 

118. What could restrain your passions when once they 
obtained sway over the better part? Thank God for your 
very pain, for it ever admonishes you to turn Heavenward ; 
it ever rewards you for errors of your own creating ; ever 
proveth that transgression bringeth a sting. 

119. And is not this the first step in progression? He 
who suffers when his body is not in pain, is progressing. 
For to suffer spiritually proveth knowledge of that suffered 
for, which state is in advance of one of less knowledge. 

120. Then, oh, Outcasts ! if your very sufferings are 
proofs of God's love for you, why do ye still keep suffering 
when the same love would give you eternal joy? 

121. Why not turn toward God, and be helped forward 
by the same love which ever admonishes you to return ? 
Surely it were easier to walk in the light than in dark- 
ness ? And who so dark as they who have light, yet use 
it not? 

122. Despair proveth man to be erring. The good never 
despair. They ever hope. Hope dwelleth within them, 
and giveth unto all they meet a happy greeting. The de- 
spairing dread companionship, and in solitary caves hide 
away their spirits. 

123. They who labor for crime and reap despair are de- 
serving of pity. He who forsakes Godliness forsaketh that 
which alone can give lasting happiness. 

124. The Outcast and Saint are equally responsible for 
their equal comprehension, and ere either condemn the 
other, it were well to reflect that God's children should 
love one another. 

125. He who condemneth a brother, is assuming powers 
which he can not even find as existing parts of Deity. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 431 

126. Man should never assnme to be above any brother. 
It is the duty of outcasts to love all men, and it is equally 
the duty of all men to love outcasts. 

127. There is a line of action for man, a central line, 
which all should strive to attain. This is never found in 
any extreme, except, indeed, it be extreme goodness, which 
hath attained the highest point of which man is capable. 

128. The Outcast taketh the extreme of Darkness, and in 
its depths battles with crime and criminal thoughts. But 
he hath ever access unto the direct plane leading up toward 
God. There is ever hope for all who desire to return 
Heavenward. 

129. Oh, Man, why wilt thou torture thyself with un- 
happiness, when joy pure and high is ever within thy power 
of attaining? 

.130. Thou art loved by God, and why wilt thou thrust 
wantonly aside blessings more sweet and lovely than all 
that man can ever express ? Why forsake thy Heavenly 
Father ? He hath not forsaken thee. Thou art suffering, 
not from his wrath, for he hath no wrath, but, as thou hast 
seen, thou dost suffer from his greatest goodness unto 
thee. 

131. Oh, why do ye remain hopeless, when hope is ever 
waiting to bless you? Why seek remorse and sorrow, 
when God doth still shed upon you brilliant rays of his all- 
enduring Love ? Why forsake manhood, and in your actions 
and aspirations daily pray God to reduce you to a level 
with the irresponsible Brute Creation ? 

132. Poor, deluded, darkened group ! Outcasts from the 
love of Man ! Oh, believe that darkness can not overcome 
light, that hatred can never overcome perfect Love, that 
error can not enthrall Wisdom. Oh, believe that whatever 
you do, your Heavenly Father still remaineth the same 
good and merciful Being. 

133. His mild eye beholds your guilty deeds ; His glanc- 
ing light quickens your inward nature, and remorse follows 
with the stain. You may heap crimes mountain high, you 



432 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

may hide in deepest caves, but, oh, children ! your Father's 
Love can never be baffled. 

134. He ever knoweth all. Your every step is guarded 
by Him of whom you will not think ; your life is His, your 
every breath, and the food you eat, and the water in the 
mountain spring, so sweet and cool — all are fruits of His 
Wisdom and His Love for Man ! 

135. He sends a sting for every crime. And if He did 
not, how much worse must you become, left unguarded by 
His watchful care ! 

136. His Love is not a changeful thing. He lovethall, 
and all equally. Think not, oh, ye lowest of the low, that 
God doth love the good more than you. He doth not. He 
is not partial. And when you see the Goodman plentifully 
smiled upon, by the enduring fortitude of his own spirit 
know that he hath earned, and consequently received, the 
blessings. 

137. Yet God doth not favor him ; he favors himself by 
faithfulness unto his own highest nature — to his own dicta- 
tions within. 

138. If ye receive remorse and despair instead of joy 
and high happiness, know that ye have earned them, and 
they are your blessings, and as much fruits of God's love 
as the happiness and joy of the good man. 

139. Ye may have heard it taught in the days when ye 
listened unto men-teachers, that God did favor the good and 
smile upon them, and that the bad, so termed, were re- 
moved eternally from his favor. Such doctrines are false. 
And even if true, how can imperfect man tell what in per- 
fect wisdom is good ? 

140. God doth favor all mankind, and with the same 
attributes. 

141. He moveth all alike, quickeneth all with His Yoice, 
and blessed are they that heed it. If they heed not His 
voice, pain admonishes them to cease erring. 



CHAPTEK XXX. 

1. Perfect Love giveth perfect Justice, and as all men 
have spirits, the having of which maketh them to be men, 
all should have equal access unto this love, and receive 
their share of the justice. 

2. They who receive spirit receive powers of knowledge, 
knowledge being spiritual. The animal creation are gov- 
erned by an Instinctive perception, which to them is not 
knowledge, but in them, as viewed by man's spiritual 
knowledge, is witness of God's wisdom and love. 

3. Man receiveth spirit from the great Fountain of Spirit. 
He must receive it to be man. With it cometh connection 
eternal with the Fountain whence it came. Then if all have 
the spirit and the same connection with its Source, all in 
this respect must be equal. 

4. All men fall short of what they believe their highest 
duty, because they are progressive, and belief must always 
precede action. That which seemeth greatly good ere it is 
begun, dwindles in view ere it is accomplished. This is 
implanted in progression, and is part of it. 

5. No man is accountable for that which he can not con- 
trol. No man is accountable for his inheritance, but all 
are measured by the comparative powers given them in the 
spirit, which must regulate as best it may the inheritance 
in which it is encased. 

6. God doth not ask any man to follow any other man ; 
but in as much as all are different beings, all are measured 
by their own gifts received from him. If good seed fall 
upon barren soil, no one can expect as good yield as though 
the soil were fertile. Neither can spirit be expected — nor 

28 



434: THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

is it expected by God — to grow and nourish so well as 
though it had been planted in a good inheritance. Wis- 
dom learneth man to be unto all most charitable. 

7. The same powers of spirit can not regulate different 
inherited animal shells so as to produce the same apparent 
results. All spirits have equally access to the Fountain of 
Wisdom ; but if one be hindered by inheritance more than 
another, surely condemnation can not follow from that 
which can not beyond a certain extent be controlled. 

8. Man's accountability can only justly be regulated by 
God, by whom it was in his creation regulated 

9. He may be almost forced down the plane by that 
which he inherited from others, and still long to go heaven- 
ward. Surely such can not merit nor receive everlasting 
darkness. God gave the spirit, and he taketh the spirit 
again into his presence, giving it all that it can compre- 
hend. Earth gave the body, and again receiveth it within 
her bosom, when the spirit leaveth it. 

10. Every man at his conception — at the point wherein 
spirit and flesh united — received a passport which naught 
can keep from the presence of God. He entered into Life, 
an existence fresh from the hand of God. 

11. At conception, Individuality commenceth in Man. 
Earth, in a measure, moldeth this individuality. The high- 
est point of Earth and the essensic purity — purity of Di- 
vine Presence — unite in Man. 

12. Yet with the Godly part of his nature he ever receiv- 
eth Purity. With the Earthly inheritance he may receive 
low and groveling desires, which, combined with other 
similar natures, may almost smother the powers of spirit 
within him. 

13. Can not God see the precise extent to which a man 
can attain knowledge of himself? Can not he see what in 
justice is each man's due? And who, save him, can see ? 
Who, as hath been asked, can solve the mighty Problem 
of Individuality ? 

14. The intimate connection between spirit and matter. 



THE HEALING OP THE NATIONS. 435 

as exemplified in man's nature, hath gradually rendered 
the material part of him more susceptible to spiritual im- 
pressions. The Yoice of God quickeneth the Outcast more 
effectually than if he had just merged into manhood ; and 
if at times he seemeth worse than the irresponsible brutes, 
would not charity commence at his conception, at the com- 
mencement of his Individuality, and balance his life upon 
a line of perfect love and justice ? 

15. If the Earth in him were large, he could not be ex- 
pected to produce the same results as though it were small. 
He would not be held accountable for the darkness — for 
that is of Earth — but for the manner in which the spirit 
acted within the powers and limits of itself. His spiritual 
nature man can not create. He hath powers of reproduc- 
tion, but within those powers the power of reproducing 
spirit doth not exist. 

16. That can come alone from God. It belongeth unto 
man's capability to receive, but God made his capability, 
and alone can fill it. Were this not so, how could any, 
save the first man, have a perfect gift from, or connection 
with, God ? And surely no man hath such unlimited pow- 
er as to create in his own image. 

IT. Severed from God, man must of necessity ever dwin- 
dle in power and comprehension ; for one fountain, unless 
Perfect, can not give drink unto the multitude without 
becoming exhausted. 

18. Man can not extract spirit from Matter, for it is not 
within it. Even in his own being his spirit and the mate- 
rial part separate at times, showing a separate existence. 

19. Matter is unaccountable. Spirit is proven account- 
able in the good by longings after holier gifts from God ; 
in the Outcast by the reprovings within him, called up by 
no outside power, but by the conscious responsibility of his 
own Spirit. 

20. Man is a result of Spirit and Matter. 

21. Thus the Kedeemed teacheth "Hope for the Out- 
cast." He giveth them the means of progression. He 



436 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

doth not hold up delusive promises, which their own na- 
tures instinctively repel and reject. He doth not teach 
that God forgiveth, but teacheth that he hath nothing to 
forgive, having in man's spirit given all that man can 
receive. 

22. He teacheth God's merciful Love and Justice, and 
man's individual responsibility. He teacheth that to for- 
give crime, were to bestow upon it greater blessings than 
is bestowed upon virtue. 

23. He doth not cut man off from eternal joys, but 
showeth those joys must be comprehended ere they become 
joys unto him. 

24. He placeth the Outcast and most virtuous on a level 
plane, so far as God's love is concerned ; yet if the one 
receive, and the other strive constantly to reject, showeth 
that the one will be of necessity happy, and the other un- 
happy. 

25. Showeth God's mercy and justice in the conception 
and inheritance of all men. Maketh all to receive equally 
of God, yet showeth how all individualities must ever 
differ. 

26. Showeth man to be fresh from God's presence, yet 
taking up the mantle of flesh at his Father's command — 
wearing it and from it receiving knowledge by contrasts, 
and finally rejecting it to return into the joyous presence 
of Deity. 

27. Showeth that knowledge differs from innocent igno- 
rance, in as much as it knoweth the contrasts of light and 
darkness, which, combined, give the perfect wisdom of 
God, which is most innocent. 

28. Showeth that all must progress, and encourageth all 
to strive to ascend toward their eternal Father, in whose 
presence is the essence of all that spirit can enjoy. 

29. And behold a true knowledge of Man is found to be 
the only hope for the Outcast. 

30. Every man must progress, and there is no progres- 
sion which is independent of truth. Progression in crime is 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 437 

regulated by precisely the same laws as progression in vir- 
tue. With God there are no criminal laws — all are equally 
good. 

31. To ascend toward God, man must have his foundation 
firm in truth, and this truth must know of himself, either 
by sincere reflection or by practical outside experience. 
It is a plain, philosophical, simple commencement — a glo- 
rious, sublime, and most holy ending ; step by step must 
man ascend. Gradually must his aspirations become more 
and still more high and pure as he walketh upward in 
virtue. 

32. Ko matter where he begins, so that he doth begin in 
truth, for an eternity of truth is before him, and at every 
step will newer and lovelier truths bless his vision. 

33. Oh, thou hopeless one, why despair? Turn thou 
the other way. Seek another path, and work out thy own 
redemption from error. And when in eternity thou dost 
look back to thy darkened present, oh ! how sweet will the 
then present seem unto thee from the contrast ! 

34. Imitate God. Bring forth from darkness Light eter- 
nal. Bring from within thy dark experience joys sweet 
and wisdom most pure. Thou hast learned Chaos practi- 
cally. Thou hast served the lower passions of thy nature, 
acting out their desires in life, and canst see from thy suf- 
fering they have been abused. 

35. Thou wert good, and however degraded now, thy 
degradation doth not annihilate the good part of thee, but 
cramps thy capability of striding rapidly toward a high 
comprehension of Heaven. 

36. When God pronounced man Good, man was fresh 
from his hand, a product of his hand, and stood upon the 
earth purely innocent and purely ignorant of all, save in- 
stinctive perceptions. 

37. To gain knowledge of darkness, darkness or lower 
qualities of his nature must be used, for knowledge is 
practical. 

38. This was and is part of the great Plan of Creation. 



438 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

God did not make man with powers equal unto his own, 
for there is but one God, and he is infinite in wisdom. 

39. There is no hope for man, either virtuous or outcast, 
save that which centereth within himself. He must attract 
hope, else will it never enter within him. It is part of 
God's enduring love for man, and ever circleth around him, 
even as the light of day and darkness of night — as the air 
he ever breathes to sustain the animal part of him ; so doth 
the guardian termed Hope ever hover near the loved child 
to guide and strengthen the inner man. 

40. Hope is boundless as the destiny of Man, or as the 
Great One of whom it is. Joy celestial it giveth all, as 
they near the realms of Divine Presence. And where is 
this Presence ? Where is God ? Oh, man, where art thou, 
wherein is thy comprehension ? Within thyself is the 
Fountain ever welling fresh and pure from the holy pres- 
ence of the great and good Jehovah. 

41. Words can not measure the joys of Heaven, and 
there is but one Being so sublimated, so grand in concep- 
tion, so boundless in thought, as to comprehend that which 
floweth from Himself! 

42. A boundless circle of glorious Light emanateth from 
the One Point, the One of All, and in whom is all. Spread- 
ing forth in a continual stream of living joy$ onward and 
ever onward, around, within, and over all art Thou, oh, 
great and good Father ! 

43. Joy is thy breath, and it doth quicken earth — even in 
their death all things have new birth. 

44. Love emanates from thy Spirit Divine. Hope to 
Man is given to cheer and strengthen him in time, and 
bring him back to Heaven. 

45. Oh, that words could be given in which man could 
express the eternal truths of thy eternity ! But all is well. 
Wisdom regulateth all things, and that which unto man at 
times seemeth most degraded is oft by deep reflection — 
silent communings of his spirit with Gentle Dove — revealed 
in lines of deep and enduring wisdom. 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 439 

46. And that which at times filleth man with joy inex- 
pressible, at a future period, when wisdom hath shed around 
him brighter rays, seemeth dreary and dark. Comprehen- 
sion measureth all things and regulates their usefulness. 

47. Man enjoy eth or suffereth from his own comprehen- 
sion. 

48. Thou, Outcast, art as happy as thou canst bear. 
Thou must learn happiness, as goodness, gradually. Thou 
canst not leap forward and still enjoy, for enjoyment de- 
pends upon the powers within thyself. They grow or 
diminish according as thou dost labor with them. 

49. Thou hast wandered far away from the joys of 
Heaven. Thou hast limited thyself in every direction. 
Thou must return whence thou came. Thou canst not 
return into the essence whence thou didst emanate and 
give up thy spirit, again becoming naught save a general 
atmospheric existence in the presence of Deity. Thou art 
an Individual existence, given into being by a perfect God 
and Father, and canst not return to that whence he gave 
thee, else at Death thou wouldst cease entirely to exist, 
which would prove the whole plan imperfect. 

50. Thou dost return to God, who gave thee being ; but 
thou art separate from the essence whence, at conception, 
thy spirit was given. The Parents whence thy body came, 
and its decaying or changing life, did not give thee spirit ; 
and when God gave thy spirit, it was a free gift, induced 
and asked for by laws of his creating, and thou didst come 
forth his child unto all eternity — the child of life on earth — 
yet the germ of Life in Heaven. 

51. Oh, Man ! thou art the climax of creation. 

52. Oh, how noble thou art! Even in thy degradation 
thou art higher far than all combined below thee. 

53. All Men are Outcasts from Heaven. Their spirit- 
germ encased in earth, therein to learn all connected with 
matter ; their spirit encased above in God's pure Love, 
therein to learn all of Heaven ; yet eternally One indivisi- 
ble being, the highest handiwork of God. 



440 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

54. No Man on Earth or in Heaven can fully compre- 
hend God, and consequently must ever ascend toward a 
higher and broader field of Light Celestial. 

55. Spirit entereth the bowels of earth innocent. It is 
fresh from Jehovah's presence. It is an emanation of his 
Intelligence, destined to eternally exist — a Being. It Com- 
eth down in answer to a prayer, and taketh up its load of 
flesh to battle back its way to Heaven. 

56. All spirit emanateth from the same source. Yet it 
enters numberless habitations, and cometh forth in differ- 
ent degrees of intelligence and love — in different grades of 
comprehension, but is still in affinity with the Source 
whence it came. 

57. Still can the Voice of God — his own Dove — fathom 
the darkest depths, and bring therefrom "Hope for the 
Outcast." 

58. Still will the spirit linger near the entrance into 
Life, and hence it is that the more degraded a man be- 
comes in his own estimation, the more near and dear is his 
own innocent childhood. 

59. He looks back to it as unto the bright Fatherland 
whence to earth he came and entered darkness. And ever 
and anon there stealeth over him a sweet feeling, which 
contrasts vividly with the darkness of the passions that 
have swayed his life. 

60. Such are the visitations of offerings from above. 
Such are the evidences of spirit's affinity for the Source of 
its existence ; such are sweet foretastes of Heaven's joy. 

61. The gift of Individuality of spiritual enjoyment unto 
man gave him powers that in their ever-varied beauty 
return unto the Divine Source pleasures which result from 
them. Without this Individuality, God had been child- 
less, and man had been unknown. 

62. All mankind should be taught their true responsibil- 
ities, and have them proven by truths within their own 
experience. Going to Heaven is a plain lesson to be 
learned and practiced by every man. Each and every 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 441 

man must strive to return whence his seed came — not as 
the seed, but as a fruit giving Glory thereunto. 

63. Man is born of earth to learn the earth. He pro- 
gressed in knowledge from childhood to age. Giveth 
in the end to earth the old body, which is the balance 
due the earth, being the remaining portion extracted 
therefrom. 

64. He is born of Heaven, when he followeth only that 
within him which ever pointeth toward holiness and peace. 
When the load of Time is severed from the spirit, then it 
commenceth to learn that which alone is eternally en- 
during. 

65. It can from its individual powers comprehend the 
deep beauties of itself. It seemeth strange to the limited 
mind of man that he is held up as so high a being in the 
Earth and Heavens, yet he feeleth pleased and hopeful of 
its truth — which very feeling is certainly encouragement to 
strive to attain the highest possible point. 

66. All are outcasts from Heaven, as Light and Love 
are cast out of Jehovah — sent out as rays of glory, unto all 
the creation, messengers of God. Man is the earthly cen- 
ter as God is of all things, man included, the center. 

67. All must return. God must have recompense for all 
that he doeth. The outward stream must turn inward again 
toward the Fountain. Man must turn Heavenward. Je- 
hovah would have the circle completed. Light hath pene- 
trated to the confines of darkness. Love hath journeyed 
side by side with its pure help-meet. Their united labors 
must raise the fallen, and place them within the presence 
of God pure and spotless. 

68. The dreary darkness vailing the Outcast hath been 
pierced by the gentle voice of the Dove, and by her balm 
of Love must Flesh be healed. Spiritual existence must 
be unclothed of the deep mysteries of ignorance, and re- 
vealed in lines of simple and enduring truth. 

69. Heaven must be opened, and all the spirits cast 
therefrom be led back to God. Outcasts must be given 



442 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

Hope not ending in Earth, but endless as the wisdom of 
Jehovah. 

70. The future existence of spirit must be rendered plain 
unto all spirits. 

71. Man must be taught wisdom that lasteth even as 
himself. 

72. Oh, thou sweet Dove ! Thou voice of Eternal Love, 
shed around the dreary path of man rays of his far-oft 
Home ! Oh, give Hope unto all the children of the One 
whence thou came ! Let forth thy tones ! Unburden thy- 
self unto man ! Oh, be thou indeed a true and all-enduring 
Friend ! 

73. Even as thou hast shown unto man his earthly du- 
ties, and sketched a higher earthly plane for him to tread, 
as thou hast given earthly instructions, oh, give those 
resulting joys which ever flow from the fulfillment of thy 
requirements. 

74. Open the highest Heavens, that man can ever on 
Earth appreciate. 

75. Give Scope to thy wing; reveal the Light of thy 
Eternal crown. 

76. There are regions of Light more pure than man hath 
ever measured ; there are regions where Love unsullied 
reigneth. There is a presence of the Infinite Jehovah in 
all existence. 

77. Man must learn this presence, these pure realms of 
holy peace. 

78. There are no mysteries in Heaven ; unto those who 
seek, knowledge is given ; and if they do not seek, that 
which cometh is plain. 

79. All things are simple unto him who comprehends 
them. With God there can be no mystery, neither is there 
mystery unto his children, save his own creative power ; 
and the truths which comprehension limits must be plain, 
so far as comprehended. 

80. How God produceth all things, is a problem which 
man can not fathom the depths of, unless quickened by, the 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 443 

highest tones of Inspired wisdom. God is plain and sim- 
ple unto himself and also unto man, so far as his little 
powers measure. 

81. How consistent is God ! From the least unto him- 
self is he ever the same ; for within each being below man 
is his Life, in Man is his Spirit encased. 

82. The countless worlds, the boundless space, the Earth 
and Atom — each within their being have evidence of His 
goodness. 

83. All sing Glory unto Him on high. Glory unto God 
forever. 

84. Space is a holy Temple wherein worship all things. 
An eternal rest for the weary — a home for the Outcast — a 
boundless sea of living melody. Inspiration filleth the 
eternal dome with liquid wisdom. 

85. What joys await thee in eternity ! Thou art, oh, 
Man, merely treading the sands of time, and they crumble 
beneath thy feet. The Wave that washes the boundless 
shores of Eternal Joy carries the sand far out upon the bil- 
lowy deep. 

86. Time is the child of two Eternities. A line between 
the past and future, and in comparison is as the atom unto 
Infinity. 

87. Yet in Man, Time is the Keystone in the arch of his 
Individuality. 

88. In the past and future doth the arch commence and 
end, and God is ever the firm foundation whence it came 
and whither it goeth ; a span of Life between Innocence 
and Goodness. 

89. The Life hath been exhibited in the outer passage 
flowing down and out from Deity. It hath been viewed in 
different directions. Different courses have been traced 
from the Fountain, until at last the Yoice of Inspiration 
hath opened a passage unto the deepest and darkest cell 
within which spirit is encased. 

90. The holy Balm hath nourished man in his different 
walks of life. It hath encouraged him ever to look upward 



444 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

with faith in God. It hath been inhaled by man, and new 
life hath given new impulses unto his being. 

91. Earthly duty hath been cleared of its Mystery, yet 
the Future hath been vailed. Thus did God will it to be. 
Man is an earthly creature so long as he treads the earth, 
and thus long hath duties binding him to his kind, and 
unto all the outer creation. 

92. He hath been shown these duties. To remove doubts, 
and make all plain to his comprehension, his own daily 
occupations have been contrasted with a lower and higher 
plane of duty. He hath been shown by simple, practical 
contrasts, the pleasure of goodness and barrenness of igno- 
rance. 

93. His daily language and daily labor have been 
plainly used, that none need say, "Herein is mystery." 
All truth is plain. Comprehension itself is a truth, and is 
in affinity with all truth around which it dwelleth. 

94. God's Love and Light have entered all habitations, 
and shown the children of God they are near unto his holy 
spirit. Examples have been revealed in which they gained 
precedence over passions, and the fullsome joy they gave 
the spirit wherein they entered hath proven unto it that 
all proceeding from the Fountain of Wisdom, is indeed 
good. 

95. The Holy Dove was crowned with the wisdom- 
reflecting crown, and bidden to make the Outcast's hope. 
She hath done it. All around the Earth is dawning a new 
morning upon their freed spirits. A taper is giving light 
unto the darkness around them ; they are journeying 
onward and upward toward God. 

96. Behold all are outcasts from God who dwell upon 
Earth — cast out to learn — sent forth from the Celestial 
home to gather from the earth Individuality. 

97. And could not God have given Individuality without 
man entering Earth ? Oh, Man, why ask such question, 
when thou seest he did not? 

98. And Man was indeed cast out of Eden because he 



THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 445 

fell short of his comprehension, yet had he not compre- 
hended, he could never have fallen. God gave his com- 
prehension, God gave his fall, and God did cast him out 
of ignorance and happiness that he should learn wisdom 
and goodness. 

99. And his fall was good, for it was his first step up- 
ward. Is this contradictory and inconsistent ? When the 
animal became Man, he was of necessity happy, because 
he could not transgress, yet when he partook of Knowledge, 
it could only be through transgression. He became a con- 
scious self — an Individual, through his first transgression, 
which was the first proof of his nobility. 

100. God did not give him powers equal unto his own, 
else he could never transgress nor ever know transgression ; 
for with God there is no such thing, all being very good. 
All was very good in the Light in which Deity viewed his 
works, and all is very good unto the man who hath 
through transgression learned wisdom. 

101. Behold the Span of Life. The Arch is completed. 
The Past and Present are united in ties of Love. The 
commencement of man and his journey unto Death's door 
is completed. 

102. The stream hath been traced from the Fountain. 
]S"ow must the Fountain be replenished. 

103. As there was wisdom in the commencement, so is 
there wisdom in the ending. God walked with man in 
Eden, in spotless childhood, and so in the end will Jehovah 
bless him with eternal presence. 

104. Oh, Man, thou child of God ! learn to view all 
things as in perfect wisdom very good. Strive to see as 
God seeth. Strive to enter high affinities. Strive for god- 
liness. Strive to fill thy highest comprehension. Thou 
hast an endless eternity before thee, in which is the ever- 
welling Fountain of Wisdom whence floweth thy own 
knowledge. Thou canst not compass God. Yet in striv- 
ing to understand his ways, thou art eternally blessed. 

105. Cease to love the Earth. Cease to covet the fruits 



4:46 THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 

of darkness. Cease to hinder thyself from progressing. 
Elevate thyself toward Heaven. 

106. Search in all things for truth. Follow ever the 
Divine Light within thee. Love all things, for all are 
fruits of His all-loving hand. 

107. Enter upon the new morning of a new life, in 
which alone is glory, and the glory alone His who is begin- 
ning and ending — even the One All- Wise, All-Powerful, 
and ever-loving God. 



APPENDIX. 



JtjipttM*— $. 

Extract from " A Defense of Spiritual Manifestations, by the Rev. C. H. 
Harvey, Pastor of the M. E. Church of Kingston, Pennsylvania/' 

It is undoubtedly very sincerely believed by many that 
the Bible is strong in its condemnation of these things. 
They understand Deut. xviii. 10, 11 as prohibiting all in- 
tercourse with the dead. At least, I have seen it in the 
public prints so quoted ; and I am willing to grant all that 
can be legitimately claimed for it, viz., that it did forbid 
the Jews from "seeking unto those that have familiar spirits 
or unto the dead ;" and what then ? Will it follow that it 
is wrong for us to receive communications from glorified 
spirits if God pleases to grant them ? "But God would not 
grant what he has forbidden, and therefore these things can 
not be a grant from Heaven ; if there is any thing super- 
human in them, they must be from the evil one." This is 
sound logic, and I think the following equally sound : if 
God has permitted glorified spirits to communicate with 
their friends on earth, he has not forbidden it, and those 
who apply this passage to these things misapprehend its 
original design. This throws us upon a posteriori proof; 
we must, notwithstanding this passage, examine these 
things and test their character and origin before we are 
prepared to judge. But let us look a little more closely 
into the bearing of this passage upon Spiritual Manifesta- 
tions. The question is not, Did it forbid the Jews from 



4.48 APPENDIX. 

seeking unto the dead ; but does it forbid us from receiv- 
ing communications from disembodied spirits ? I am not 
one of those who suppose, simply because a precept was 
given to the Jews, that therefore it is not binding upon us, 
for that would do away with the greater part of the Old 
Testament. Nor do I believe because a precept is found in 
their law, that therefore it is binding upon us ; for then I 
should not dare to eat swine's flesh, nor leavened bread 
on certain days, nor to do many other things which I, in 
common with all Christians, am in the daily habit of doing. 
We are to look into the moral reasons of those laws, and 
if they are now the same as then, they are binding upon us; 
if not, they have passed away as "contrary to us," and are 
of no more force. The bulk of the Jewish law has ceased 
to be of force, not by direct repeal, but by the cessation of 
the reasons of its enactment. The question then recurs, 
What were the reasons of this command ? And are those 
reasons existing with us ? If not, the law has passed away. 
We may not be able to develop all the reasons of that law, 
but I think the following are plain : 

1st. The age in which this command was given was an 
age of revelations; and the people to whom it was given, 
the people chosen to be its depositaries; and during the 
continuance of this age God dwelt sensibly among them, 
and could be directly appealed to on all questions, and 
answers received by Urim, and Thummin, and Prophets. 
There was therefore no need of communications from the 
disembodied, yet finite. The Infinite was there, speaking 
through the mouths of the Prophets, the breastplate of the 
High Priest, and from between the wings of the Cheru- 
bim. 

2dly. That people had an almost unconquerable tenden- 
cy to idolatry ; this is written upon almost every page of 
their history. And notwithstanding all the demonstra- 
tions of the Supreme Godhead and power of Jehovah, how 
often did they forsake him, and go in pursuit of other gods! 
This tendency was so strong, that God even hid the body 



APPENDIX. 449 

of Moses, lest his bones should be deified by them. Is it 
likely that in a people so given to this crime, all the won- 
ders Jehovah wrought among them could not restrain them 
from it, they could have been restrained from paying su- 
preme homage to glorified spirits, had they been sent to 
communicate among them ? It seems to me the character 
of that people was such, as we gather it from their history, 
that such manifestations would have completely defeated 
their object, and, instead of leading them to God, would 
have led them farther away from him. God fully under- 
stood this, and therefore, 

3dly. Would not allow good spirits to communicate with 
them. And hence, if they had any spiritual communica- 
tions, they would be from wicked, lying spirits, styled in 
this scripture, "familiar spirits." How forcible, then, 
the reasons for this command upon them, and how evident 
that it is wholly inapplicable to us. The case of Saul 
(1 Sam. xxviii.), which is, I believe, always, or at least 
generally, referred to in connection with this, as it involves 
the same principles as the command, falls with it. There 
are a number of other reasons which clearly disprove the 
applicability of these Scriptures to the case in hand, but I 
waive them. Tor all of them can not equal the following : 
That that command — unlike most of the Jewish statutes — 
which a Christian minister would blush to insinuate were 
still in force, has been formally repealed. I suppose it will 
be conceded that the teaching of Christ's actions is as 
forcible and binding as the teaching of his words, and that 
it is right to " walk as he walked," and to " follow in his 
steps ;" and that so much of that law as was disregarded 
in his actions was repealed, and of no more binding force. 
Now it is a fact, recorded by three of the Evangelists, that 
Christ did hold intercourse with the righteous and glorified 
dead. See Matt. xvii. 3, Mark ix. 4, Luke ix. 30. This I 
must regard as decisive. And I am by no means sure but 
that our Saviour had his eye upon these latter-day mani- 
festations, and, to take this obsolete law out of the mouths 

29 



450 APPENDIX. 

of gainsayers, summoned Moses and Elias from heaven, 
and displayed them to his disciples, conversing with him. 
And should I go farther, and claim for that display a spe- 
cial reference to these things, I should fail to rival many, 
both of the ancients and moderns, in spiritualizing the 
Scriptures. For why were they there conversing with 
Christ ? Surely not to give him information or encourage- 
ment, for this he received from. a higher source. Why, 
then, were they there ? May it not have been to type the 
privilege of his Church in the latter days, and the assist- 
ance that they should have in their efforts to evangelize 
the world. Oh ! let me entreat you, brother minister, to 
bathe your heart thoroughly and deeply in the glories of 
Tabor ere your pulpit resounds with denunciations against 
these things, or your people are treated with a homily on 
Saul and the witch of Endor, and the obsolete and repealed 
statute of Deut. xviii. 10, 11. 

Luke xvi. 31 : " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the 
dead," is quoted by some with a triumphant air, as though 
perfectly conclusive against Spiritual Manifestations. I 
shall consider the passage only in its supposed bearing 
against these things ; and I think that a little reflection will 
convince any candid mind that they are not condemned by 
it. Attend to the following considerations : 

1st. The passage, taken with its connection, clearly shows 
the possibility of glorified spirits communicating with the 
living. The rich man addresses two petitions to Abraham. 
The first is, " That he would send Lazarus," who had ob- 
tained a lodgment in his bosom, "to dip the tip of his 
finger in water and cool his tongue," i. <?., that his suffer- 
ings might be mitigated. To this Abraham returns a de- 
nial, accompanied with two reasons. The first was, that 
justice demanded he should endure all that was inflicted 
upon him. The second, that it was impossible for Lazarus 
to come to him — verse 25-6. 

The second petition was, that he would send Lazarus to 



APPENDIX. 451 

his father's house to warn his five brethren. This is de- 
nied, and but one reason given for it : " They have Moses 
and the prophets ; let them hear them." He does not say, 
as in the former case, he " can not" which clearly shows 
that it was possible for Lazarus to return to earth and warn 
those persons. 

2d. The clause, " will not be persuaded though one rose 
from tJie dead" supposed to be condemnatory of Spiritual 
Manifestations, is predicated of five individuals only, not 
of the race universally. The rich man does not pray that 
Lazarus might be sent to warn the world — sinners in gen- 
eral — but simply to his father's house to warn his five 
brethren • clearly showing that the prayer was not prompt- 
ed by a benevolent concern for them, but a selfish interest 
for himself. He had just been told that his sufferings 
should never be less ; he now prays that they may not be 
increased by the coming of his brethren to share in them ; 
precisely harmonizing with the doctrine set forth in these 
Manifestations respecting lost spirits. They say, " The 
lost spirits of your friends would delight to see you as mis- 
erable as themselves, but they do not generally wish you 
to come to hell, because it would add to their torments." 
But to the question before us : the pronoun " they" relates 
to, and stands for, "five brethren" and is limited by its 
antecedent to the same extension ; and in their case it was 
doubtless true. But does it follow that it was equally true 
of all others, in all ages of the world ? I know not by 
what rule of grammar, or logic, or common sense this can 
be made to appear. Try the logic a little. Five men 
would not repent, though warned to from the grave ; 
therefore nobody would ? ISTow, if this is good, I think 
the following better : five hundred thousand of the Egyp- 
tians, with Pharaoh at their head, would not believe that 
God spoke by Moses, therefore the Israelites would not, 
and his mission was useless! A greater number of Jews 
could not be persuaded to repentance by the united exer- 
tions of Christ and his Apostles, therefore nobody could 



452 APPENDIX. 

have been, and their labors were silly and vain ! There 
are now a great many who will not be persuaded to give 
their hearts to God by all that can be done to effect their 
salvation ; therefore nothing need be done for any, for 
none will consent to be saved ! Puerile as this logic is, it 
is a vast improvement upon that which arrays this passage 
against Spiritual Manifestations. For the one is from jive 
to the whole ; the other from jive hundred thousand to the 
whole. If the former is good, the latter is a hundred thou- 
sand times better, mathematically demonstrated. But, 

3d. The passage relates to quite another thing than 
Spiritual Manifestations. It relates to a literal resurrec- 
tion of the body. " Though one rose from the dead" — a 
specific miracle for a specific object — and the most that 
can be claimed for it, even constructively, is, that a spe- 
cific miracle for the conversion of every five persons would 
be useless — which, I doubt not, is true. The passage has 
no reference to communications made from glorified spirits 
in their disembodied state, but to the return of the spirit to 
its forsaken body, and its living in and preaching through 
it. I have heard it said, to be sure, that it is the same 
thing ; but this can not be, any more than Christ's going 
in spirit to preach to the antediluvians in the days of 
Noah (1 Pet. iii. 19, 20) was the same thing, as his resur- 
rection at Jerusalem twenty-four hundred years afterward. 
But, 

4th. If the passage proves any thing against Spiritual 
Manifestations, it proves quite too much for those who 
avail themselves of it ; for if no other means than those 
mentioned in this passage, as adequate to effect the salva- 
tion of these five persons, can be successfully used for the 
salvation of others, the whole New Testament is superflu- 
ous. " If they hear not Moses and the prophets. 77 By 
Moses and the prophets, the Old Testament, and that only, 
is meant. Of course, then, if the argument is good, we 
have no use for the New. It will avail nothing to say, in 
avoidance of this conclusion, that " Christ had already 



APPENDIX. 453 

come." For, 1st. This can not be proved. Christ relates 
it as past ; but how far back in the past it transpired, no 
man can tell, for he has not. All we know in regard to 
the time of the occurrence — for the time of its relation is 
of no avail in the argument — is, that it was posterior to 
the closing up of the Old Testament revelation, and ante- 
rior to the present in which it was told, covering a space 
of four hundred years, in any part of which it might have 
taken place. 2d. It is, I think, more than probable that 
the date of the transaction is anterior to the advent of 
Christ. For if Christ had already come, it seems quite un- 
accountable that Abraham should have overlooked the fact, 
and referred to Moses and the prophets as the exponents 
of the way of life, when their authority had been already 
superseded and set aside by the appearance of " the greater 
than they." "Why did not Abraham say they have Christ, 
instead of Moses and the prophets ? I presume it was be- 
cause they had no Christ, as yet, except as he was to be 
found in types and prophecies. But, 3d. Even if Christ 
had come, and Abraham, from some unaccountable reason, 
had been held in ignorance of it, or failed to mention it, 
still, not a syllable of the ISTew Testament had been writ- 
ten. The crucifixion, and the resurrection, and the ascen- 
sion, and the subsequent advocacy of the Lamb of God 
had not taken place. "Were tJiese unnecessary? The as- 
tounding revelations of Paul, and Peter, and Jude, and the 
sublime visions of John on Patmos, were yet undisclosed ; 
were these unnecessary ? It is surprising to see how thought- 
lessly some men, and even divines, will quote and apply 
Scripture ! 

These comprise all the Scriptures, as far as I know, to 
which the adversaries of Spiritual Manifestations attach 
any importance, that are considered as containing the sen- 
tence of their condemnation. They are all that I have seen 
or heard against them. And to what do they amount ? 
Simply to this : such Manifestations are possible, and have 
actually been, and of course may be again, and completely 



454 APPENDIX. 

sweep away the plea by which some attempt to justify 
themselves in denouncing them and believers in them, 
without investigating their claims to credulity, that the 
Bible is against them ! And as these are swept away, the 
command rolls down upon them with deafening peal, 
" Judge not," but "prove all things, holdfast that which is 
good." Examine, and then decide. 



[feom the new yobk evangelist.] 
ON THE MINISTRATION OF DEPARTED SPIRITS IN THIS WORLD. 

BY MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 

It is a beautiful belief, 

That e"ver round our head 
Are hovering on viewless wings 

The spirits of the dead. 

While every year is taking one and another from the 
ranks of life and usefulness, or the charmed circle of friend- 
ship and love, it is soothing to remember that the spiritual 
world is gaining in riches through the poverty of this. 

In early life, with our friends all around us — hearing 
their voices, cheered by their smiles — death and the spirit- 
ual world are to us remote, misty, and half fabulous ; but 
as we advance in our journey, and voice after voice is 
hushed, and form after form vanishes from our side, and 
our shadow falls almost solitary on the hill-side of life, the 
soul, by a necessity of its being, tends to the unseen and 
spiritual, and pursues in another life those it seeks in vain 
in this. For with every friend that dies, dies also some 
peculiar form of social enjoyment, whose being depended 
on the peculiar character of that friend ; till, late in the 
afternoon of life, the pilgrim seems to himself to have 
passed over to the unseen world, in successive portions, 



APPENDIX. 455 

half his own spirit ; and poor is he who has not familiar- 
ized himself with that unknown, whither, despite himself, 
his soul is earnestly tending. One of the deepest and most 
imperative cravings of the human heart, as it follows its 
beloved ones beyond the vail, is for some assurance that 
they will still love and care for us. Could we firmly be- 
lieve this, bereavement would lose half its bitterness. As 
a German writer beautifully expresses it, " Our friend is 
not wholly gone from us ; we see across the river of death, 
in the blue distance, the smoke of his cottage ;'' hence the 
heart, always creating what it desires, has ever made the 
guardianship of, and ministration of, departed spirits, a 
favorite theme of poetic fiction. 

But is it, then, fiction ? Does revelation, which gives so 
many hopes which nature had not, give none here? Is 
there no sober certainty to correspond to the inborn and 
passionate craving of the soul? Do departed spirits, in 
verity, retain any knowledge of what transpires in this 
world, and take any part in its scenes ? 

All that revelation says of a spiritual state is more inti- 
mate than assertion ; it has no direct treatise, and teaches 
nothing apparently of set purpose, but gives vague, glori- 
ous images, while now and then some accidental ray of 
intelligence looks out, 

Like eyes of cherubs, shining 



From out the vail that hid the ark. 

But out of all the different hints and assertions of the 
Bible, we think a better inferential argument might be 
constructed, to prove the ministration of departed spirits, 
than for many a doctrine which has passed, in its day, for 
the height of orthodoxy. 

Fy'st, then, the Bible distinctly says that there is a class 
of invisible spirits who minister to the children of men. 
" Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
to those who shall be heirs of salvation?" It is said of 
little children, that their "angels do always behold the 



456 APPENDIX. 

face of the Father which is in Heaven." The last passage 
from the words of our Saviour, taken in connection with 
the well-known tradition of his time, fully recognizes the 
idea of individual guardian spirits. 

For God's, government over mind is, it seems through- 
out, one of intermediate agencies, and these not chosen at 
random, but with the nicest reference to their adaptation 
to the purpose intended. 

Is it likely, then, that, in selecting subordinate agencies, 
this so necessary a requisite of a human life and experi- 
ence, is overlooked? "While around the throne of God 
stand spirits, now sainted and glorified, but thrillingly con- 
scious of a past experience of sin and sorrow, and trembling 
to the soul, in sympathy with temptations and struggles 
like their own ; is it likely that he would pass by these 
souls, thus burning for the work, and commit it to those 
bright abstract spirits, whose knowledge and experience 
are comparatively so distinct and so cold ? 

It is strongly in confirmation of this idea, that in the 
transfiguration scene, which seems to have been intended 
purposely to give the disciples a glimpse of the glorified 
state of their Master, we find him attended by two spirits 
of earth, Moses and Elias, " which appeared with him in 
glory, and spake of his death, which he should accomplish 
at Jerusalem." 

It appears that these so long departed ones were still 
mingling in deep sympathy with the tide of human affairs, 
not only aware of the present, but also informed as to the 
future. 

In coincidence with this idea are all those passages 
which speak of the redeemed of earth as being closely and 
indissolubly identified with Christ, members of his body, 
of his flesh and his bones. It is not to be supposed, that 
these united to Jesus above all others, by so vivid a sym- 
pathy and community of interests, are left out as instru- 
ments in that great work of human regeneration which 
engrosses him ; and when we hear Christians spoken of as 



APPENDIX. 457 

kings and priests unto God, as those who shall judge 
angels, we see it more than intimated that they are to be 
the parents and actors in that great work of spiritual re- 
generation, of which Jesus is the head. 

What then ? May we look among the bands of minis- 
tering spirits for our departed ones? Whom would God 
be more likely to send us ? Have we in heaven a friend 
who knew us to the heart's core — a friend to whom we 
have unfolded our soul in its most secret recesses — to whom 
we have confessed our weaknesses and deplored our griefs ? 
If we are to have a ministering spirit, who better adapted? 

Have we not memories which correspond to such a be- 
lief? When our soul has been cast down, has never an 
invisible voice whispered, "There is lifting up?" Have 
not gales and breezes of sweet and healing thought been 
wafted over us, as if an angel has shaken from his wings 
the odors of paradise ? Many a one, we are confident, can 
remember such things ; and whence come they ? 

Why do the children of the pious mother, whose grave 
has grown green and smooth with years, seem often to 
walk through perils and dangers, fearful and imminent as 
the crossing Mohammed's fiery gulf on the edge of a drawn 
sword, yet walk unhurt? Ah ! could we see that glorious 
form ! that face where the angel conceals not the mother — 
our questions would be answered. 

It may be possible that a friend is sometimes taken, be- 
cause the Divine One sees that their ministry can act upon 
us more powerfully from the unseen world than amid the 
infirmities of mortal intercourse. 

Here the soul, distracted and hemmed in by human 
events, and by bodily infirmities, often scarce knows itself, 
and makes no impressions on others correspondent to its 
desires. The mother would fain electrify the heart of her 
child; she yearns and burns in vain to make her soul 
effective on its soul, and to inspire it with a spiritual and 
holy life ; but all her own weaknesses, faults, and mortal 
cares cramp and confine her, till death breaks all fetters— 



4:58 . APPENDIX. 

and then first truly alive, risen, purified, and at rest, she 
may do calmly, sweetly, and certainly what amid the tem- 
pests and tossings of life she labored for painfully and fit- 
fully. 

So, also, to generous souls who burn for the good of man, 
who deplore the shortness of life, and the little that is per- 
mitted to any individual agency in this life, does this 
belief open a heavenly field. Think not, father or brother 
— long laboring for man, till thy sun stands on the west- 
ern mountains — think not that thy day in this world is 
over. Perhaps, like Jesus, thou hast lived a human life 
and gained a human experience, to become, under and like 
him, a savior of thousands — thou hast been through the 
preparation, but thy real work of good, thy full power of 
doing, is yet to begin. 

There are some spirits (and those of earth's choicest) to 
whom, so far as enjoyment to themselves or others is con- 
cerned, this life seems to have been a total failure. A hard 
hand from the first, and all the way through life, seems to 
have been laid upon them ; they seem to live only to be 
chastened and crushed, and we lay them in the grave at 
last in mournful silence. To such what a vision is opened 
by this belief! This hard discipline has been the school 
and task-work by which their soul has been fitted for their 
invisible labors in a future life ; and when they pass the 
gates of the grave, their course of benevolent acting first 
begins, and they find themselves delighted possessors of 
w T hat through many years they have sighed for — the power 
of doing good. 

The year just passed, like all other years, has taken from 
a thousand circles the sainted, the just, and the beloved ; 
there are spots in a thousand graveyards which have be- 
come this year dearer than all the living world ; but in the 
loneliness of sorrow, how cheering to think that our lost 
ones are not wholly gone from us! They still may move 
about our homes, shedding around them an atmosphere of 
purity and peace, promptings of good, and reproofs of evil; 



APPENDIX. 459 

we are compassed about with a cloud of witnesses, whose 
hearts throb in sympathy with every effort and struggle, 
and who thrill with joy at our success. How should this 
thought check and rebuke every worldly feeling and un- 
worthy purpose, and enshrine us in the midst of a forgetful 
and unspiritual world, with an atmosphere of heavenly 
peace. They have overcome — have risen — are crowned, 
glorified — but still they remain to us, our assistants, oar 
comforters, and in every hour of darkness they seem to 
say to us, " So we grieved, so we struggled, so we fainted, 
so we doubted ; but we have overcome, we have obtained, 
we have found all true, and in our heaven behold the cer- 
tainty of thy own." 



Extract from a Discourse by the Eev. J. B. Ferguson, of Nashville, Ten. 

It has been said, You believe in Spiritualism. I answer, 
unhesitatingly, I do. So far as the word Spiritualism rep- 
resents the opposite of the materialistic philosophy, I do 
not remember when I was not a Spiritualist. So far as it 
might represent devotion to spiritual things, such as truth, 
holiness, charity, it is my profession to be a Spiritualist. 
And so far as it represents now an acceptance of the possi- 
bility of spirit-intercourse with man, it is but candor to 
say I believe it without hesitancy and without doubt. That 
there are many absurdities and some mischief connected 
with what claims to be Spirit Manifestation, I know, but I 
know also that there is much truth and good. My breth- 
ren, I have examined this question in all the reverence for 
God and love for truth of which my nature and circum- 
stances are capable. At home and abroad, for days and 
weeks together, alone and in company, with believers and 
skeptics, I have investigated ; and I could neither be an 



460 APPENDIX. 

honest man nor a philanthropist did I not say I know that 
I have had intelligent and blissful communion with de- 
parted spirits. I have read all of any note that has been 
said against it. I have heard it called humbug, impos- 
ture, and the work of the wicked one. I know the preju- 
dices against it, and would not needlessly offend them. 
But I say to you as your friend, your preacher, and as one 
that must suffer more for this avowal than all others pres- 
ent, it is neither humbug, nor imposture, nor the work of 
the Devil, saving to those who may make humbug and de- 
ception of the holiest privileges of man. Mark you, I by 
no means believe in all the mediums, so called, nor in any 
medium or spirit as infallible. I pity and loathe much 
that is called spiritual, here and elsewhere. But as be- 
neath the veriest cesspools flow the pure streams of Ma- 
ture, and from within the darkest clouds breaks forth the 
light of Heaven, so beneath the clouds of ignorance and 
vice in mediumship I have seen the pure light and tasted 
the sweet waters of the tmmortal world. Let me say to 
you, with a heart overflowing with love, beware how you 
treat this subject. It is not to be trifled with, nor made a 
species of idle pastime, or fortune-telling, or gold-hunting, 
with impunity. Can I Jcnow that the dead live, and are 
interested in our every repentance, struggle, suffering, and 
joy, and would I be faithless to own my experience or sell 
the knowledge for mercenary gain ? Forbid it, Heaven ! 
for I know of no greater degradation, and wonder not at 
its terrible results. But denials will not prevent such re- 
sults. We must be candid. Candor is the condition of all 
improving knowledge. "We dare not despise it for its 
humble origin. Bemember that one generation has ever 
persecuted the prophets whose monuments the next have 
laid. Bemember Jesus and the question, " Can any good 
come out of Nazareth ?" Bemember that truth is generally 
born in a manger, and that wise men worship with gifts 
of frankincense, while the selfish and bloodthirsty would 
slaughter the unoffending infant. Can I live with you, be- 



APPENDIX. 461 

lieving in Spiritualism ? For yourselves and to your God 
answer. If so, we go on as heretofore ; if not, God's world 
is broad, his heaven benignant, and everywhere he has 
said to every faithful man, You shall yet see " that more 
are they that are for you than they that are against you." 

I am neither mad nor demoniacal. No ! oh, no ! Yet I 
call upon Heaven to witness that I have no consciousness 
of ever having stated a conviction in your presence that 
was more a conviction of my highest reason than the sol- 
emn and yet joyous asseveration, that I believe God has 
granted spiritual intercourse to these times. And this con- 
viction does not lessen any faith I have in God, in Christ, 
in the Spirit of Holiness, but only enlightens, hallows, and 
beautifies it, and deepens my reverence. 

Now I know it will be said, and, justly said, that the 
preachers of the so-called Reformation do not believe with 
you. How then can we expect their fellowship ? I do not 
expect it, but did expect it, because our fellowship was not 
predicated upon a vain uniformity of belief. If it were, I 
could never have fellowshiped them, for there are many 
notions of theirs I have regarded as superstitious and fool- 
ish, and tending to prevent their own improvement and 
disturb the happiness of others. Church fellowship, in 
uniformity of belief, is an impossibility. It never did 
exist, and it never can exist. Men believe according to the 
degree of their capacity and knowledge. As there is no 
uniformity in either their capacity or knowledge, there can 
be none in their faith. My fellowship with those who were 
once ready to call me brother, and to reap the fruits of my 
humble labors in the interest which every community 
among them I have ever been permitted to visit, took in 
those labors ; men who, since their leaders have pro- 
nounced me infidel for the free expression of my opinions, 
are ready to detract, and slander, and destroy, were it in 
their power ; my fellowship, I repeat, with such men did 
depend upon supposed similarity of religious spirit, aim, 
and purpose. Their religious effort professed the largest 



462 APPENDIX. 

amount of liberality to individual differences. "We differed 
when they professed the heartiest fellowship, and could not 
be too laudatory in their praise ; but we tacitly agreed to 
differ. They differed among themselves, and still differ as 
much as they do from me, if as honest to express their dif- 
ferences now as they once were. They differed from the 
oldest and most respectable of their own number, but were 
more chary in expressing that difference, for which they 
deserve credit, as for a better knowledge of their chief 
speakers and writers than I was able to gather from their 
published expressions. But then they differed with me 
charitably. So we still differ from thern. We would not 
have them — nor would I have you — receive any view of 
religious truth from me, save as you are compelled to do 
so by the power of your individual convictions. Thus I 
am not responsible for them, nor they for me. A remem- 
brance of this fact might have prevented every irrational 
and childish opposition. "We should still stand upon our 
merits or our lack of them : in the one case to help for- 
ward the cause of human improvement ; in the other, to 
receive its benefits. I can not and would not control their 
expressions of fellowship. It would have been gratifying 
to have labored with it, but he has weak confidence in God 
who can not labor without it. For many misdirected at- 
tempts to prejudice the public mind ; for the exhibitions 
of religious hate, the worst and most vindictive of all hate ; 
for betrayals and false pretenses of friendship, and misrep- 
resentations of private conferences and conversations, I 
freely forgive them, and it would be unchristian not to do 
so, seeing God has overruled it to more good than evil, as 
I believe he will overrule all things, and cause even the 
wrath of man to praise him. The cause of free inquiry, 
upon the most important questions that ever engaged hu- 
man attention or affected human faith and happiness, has 
been advanced. The true position of religious teachers as 
helpers of human joy, and not lords over human con- 
sciences, has been seen by hundreds and thousands who 



APPENDIX. 463 

were ready for something better than sectarian assumption 
and circumvention under the holy name of Liberty, but 
who knew not from what quarter it would come. 

You will readily see how we can be charitable to those 
who can not be even just to us ; and how ultimately all 
ecclesiasticism, based upon mere authority, must give way 
to the force of religious freedom and the claims of a com- 
mon humanity, responsible in its faith to God alone. And 
when my numerous voluntary opponents shall have learned 
the existence, outside of all human denunciation, of a sphere 
of conviction and conscience, as a shrine which God has 
never surrendered in any creature of his hands, their hos- 
tility and estrangement will pass away. And they must 
pardon me for hoping that if this does not take place in 
the present life, it may be effected in the life to come, un- 
der the less fleshly and more enlarged influences of the 
Just made perfect in love. 

But we can not dismiss this reference to differences with- 
out enforcing upon your attention the truth, that different 
truths are received with different degrees of conviction, 
according to the degree of capacity exercised, of attention 
given, and the circumstances of culture surrounding us. 
That there is a God is believed by all men, for the very 
effort to think implies the belief. That that God is a com- 
mon Father, superintending and directing the welfare of 
every creature he has formed ; that even the retributions 
for ignorance, error, and wrong are paternal in their origin 
and administration, and look to the reformation, and not 
the destruction, of the individual sufferer ; that in the soul 
of every man, in the very nature of its constitution, he has 
provided a shrine above all human authority, where he 
works forever more in love and wisdom ; a shrine that 
will yet be made pure, by a conviction that will yet be 
made wise, and a conscience that will yet see the right, 
despite all darkening doubt and tainted appetite, that even 
now, in our narrow vision, appear so unseemly to a child 
divine ; that God worketh everywhere and in every thing, 



464 APPENDIX. 

and leadeth on through change and apparent destruction to 
a high destiny, and will ultimately take full possession of 
every heart, from the free and chosen rule of which he will 
never depart ; and that to hasten this divine and all-glori- 
ous dominion over themselves and over all souls, he filled 
his ancient servants, and is ready to fill us, with the quick- 
ening power of his spirit, to go forth on missions of duty, 
suffering, and enjoyment ; these are a few of the truths we 
feel we have gained by the positions he has granted us, 
and the discipline through which he seems to have called 
us to pass. He has made us to know what formerly we 
almost feared to hope, and now we can assert, with devout 
thanksgiving, that we unwaveringly believe that divine 
rule, divine love, divine truth will yet grow, despite all 
the restraints of our present immature and, on this ac- 
count, often antagonistic fleshly state, 

*' Complete in man ; 
The thinker and the plan, 
The spirit and the shrine, 
Where heart and work combine ; 
For God, who made the whole, 
Works in the working soul !" 

But whilst asserting this sublime faith and hope, let no 
immature mind conceive that it can be any encouragement 
to a continuance in ignorance, error, or sin. I do not be- 
lieve, I can not believe, from the principles laid down, that 
under a divine government that extends over all states of the 
individual, temporal and spiritual, present and future, that 
any man can escape the just consequences of his sinful dis- 
positions and deeds. No view of the atonement, of the or- 
thodoxy of his creed, or of his subserviency to the outward 
forms of religion, can deliver him only so far as they cor- 
rect his habits of sou] and the evil direction of his life. 
Nothing but a removal of the causes of retributive misery 
can prevent retributive issues. Nothing but a repentance 
that amends the evil habit of the soul, can save us from the 
inevitable accompaniments of wrong-doing. Our appe- 



APPENDIX. 465 

tites and passions, misdirected and uncontrolled, become 
like voracious serpents, winding their loathsome length in 
tightening cords around our capacity for pure desires and 
holy works, and spreading their blighting slime over every 
flower of faith, love, and hope within us. Our evil pro- 
pensities follow, like rabid dogs, along the pathway of 
every footstep we make toward the divine and eternal 
good. Beware, then, of serpents ; beware of dogs, we 
would constantly say, and beware of reliance upon any 
theological charms or talismans that would hinder your 
renunciation of their company and power. But renounce 
them, and your repented sins will become as bracelets gird- 
ing your character, and every additional virtue will but 
add a gem of spirit-brilliancy to your soul, giving to what 
w T oulcl have been a scale of the festering reptile the hue of 
the brightest topaz and emerald. Neither in this life nor 
that to come can I hope a forgiveness for any sin not re- 
pented of; and no sin is repented of, the habit of which is 
not changed. Can words express the incentive of a truth 
like this to help us to avoid a retrograde life and inspire 
us to advance in that eternal progression for which our 
nature was designed by its beneficent Creator, and in which 
alone he has ordained its highest happiness ? 

My brethren, are you then anxious for a word with which 
to define my religious position in view of the statements 
against us % If so, say he believes in progression. He be- 
lieves it the law of human development, happiness, and 
glory. Progression from brute nature to the elements that 
make the human organism. Progression from feeble in- 
fancy to maturity. Progression from ignorance to knowl- 
edge ; from error to accuracy ; from vice to virtue ; from 
crime to repentance ; from death to life ; and from all that 
is transitory, insubstantial, and unsatisfying, to that which 
is permanent, real, and full of joy. Ay, I love the word — 
I almost worship the idea. "What Christ, and the Christ in 
the Apostles, meant by repentance I mean by progression. 
To the darkened mind, darkened by ignorance, bigotry, 

30 



m 



APPENDIX, 



and pride, it is advance to brighter views of God, of man, 
and immortality. To tlie enslaved mind — enslaved by 
servility to the external world and a mere formal religion 
— it is advance to freedom, to spirit and communion with 
the Infinite. To the criminal mind — criminal in wrongs, 
thought, and wrongs done to its human brethren — it is ad- 
vance to love, duty, and hope, which alone can bring the 
joy of forgiveness and the assurance of divine help. Pro- 
gression ! yes, Progression ! a word not merely to be won- 
dered at, but to be revered by all honest minds. Hypoc- 
risy may decry it ; delusion may cover it with a mask ; 
pride may contemn it ; but it is the only cure of error ; 
the only offer of freedom from woe ; the only light that 
leads you from the prison- walls of superstition and bigotry. 
It shines on the pathway of unending felicity. Its light is 
the light of God to man, and in man. And it will shine 
on ; our little ones will yet bask in its rays ; our aged 
ones will yearn for its future revealings, until the remotest 
boundaries of our earth shall chant its glory, and angels 
come down to send upward the song of an everlasting 
jubilee of liberty and love. For oh ! already I behold 

" A mighty dawning on the earth 
Of human glory ! Dreams, unknown before, 
Fill the mind's boundless world, 
And wondrous birth is given to greatest thought ; 
On every side appears a silent token 
Of what will be hereafter, when existence 
Shall become a pure and sacred thing, 
And earth cweep high as heaven !" 

But will some cautious friend say, Yes, you may have 
your free, hard-earned, and happy thoughts, but do not 
preach thorn. The world is not prepared for them ; you 
will injnro your influence ; you may bring yourself to beg- 
gary ; your friends may not appreciate you, and, as your 
adversaries have predicted, may desert you in the day of 
severe trial. True, I reply ; but all this I have seen and 
felt in spirit, and I know what it is and what it is not. It 
is something to frighten selfish servility, but it only serves 



APPENDIX. 467 

to nerve and strengthen our heavenly freedom. " Get thee 
behind me, Satan, for thou knowest not of the things which 
be of God, but those which be of men and come to naught." 
I must go forward, no matter what awaits me. I can not 
go backward. Whether in honor or dishonor, poverty or 
plenty, friendship or desertion, my face is set, and God, to 
me, leadeth on the way, by signs and by blessings which 
the fleshly mind sees not, or seeing will not heed. Will 
you continue to stand by me 1 You can not distrust me 
if you would ! Will you hold on with me to the liberty 
of thought and action, and the helps we have of promoting 
human good ? Choose ye this day for yourselves and your 
spiritual good, and without reference to any personal friend- 
ship you may have for me. But while the choice is pass- 
ing through your minds, I would simply ask you to consult 
your own convictions of good received. You have had 
the old teaching, as it is called, and what some would call 
the new. From which have you received the largest ben- 
efit to your minds, your hearts, and your lives ? Under 
which have you most improvement, peace, and harmony ? 
Which promises most for the good of the world ? And 
however you decide, allow me to exhort you as you value 
your peace of mind, despise nothing merely because it is 
supposed to be novel, or is made the subject of reproach. 
To the thought of Progression will I cling ! Does not the 
world need it ? does not every heart need it \ 



LETTER FROM EX-SENATOR TALLMADGE. 

Messrs. Gales and Seaton: 

My attention has been attracted to the proceedings of the 
Senate, published in the Intelligencer of this morning, on 
the presentation of a memorial by General Shields, signed 



468 APPENDIX. 

by myself and 13,000 citizens of the United States, on the 
subject of " Spiritual Manifestations." The memorialists 
ask Congress to appoint a scientific commission to investi- 
gate these extraordinary phenomena. General Shields has 
given a very good synopsis of the memorial ; and had he 
stopped there, I should not have felt myself called upon for 
any remarks. But, contrary to my expectations, the Gene- 
ral has attempted to ridicule a subject which appealed to 
his better judgment, and which, according to my under- 
standing, was to receive very different treatment at his 
hands. 

When I first spoke to General Shields about presenting 
this memorial to the Senate, he treated it with great cour- 
tesy, and expressed his willingness to move its reference to 
a Select Committee. Without expressing any opinion in 
favor of the spiritual theory, he agreed with me that, 
whether spiritual or philosophical, it was worthy of inves- 
tigation. After this understanding, I confess my surprise 
that he should have treated it as he did ; that instead of an 
investigation by a Select Committee, of which, by parlia- 
mentary usage, he would have been chairman, and where 
those who have investigated the subject could have been 
heard, he should have given in advance a rehash of what 
has so often been said before by the opponents of Spiritual- 
ism! My habitual respect for the honorable body of which 
he is a member, will cause me to forego any remarks upon 
the attempted criticisms of himself and others on this 
occasion. 

The General is pleased to characterize these manifesta- 
tions as a "delusion." Now, I do not pretend to any 
extraordinary power to understand a subject more than 
other men, whose position in life would indicate a talent 
equal, if not superior, to my own. Still, I do pretend, 
that when I have investigated a subject which they have 
not, I am better capable than they of judging whether 
there is any " delusion" involved in the conclusion to which 
I have arrived, and I can not consent to surrender my 



APPENDIX. 469 

reason and the evidence of my own senses to their instincts. 
I have made it a rule of my life never to write or speak on 
a subject about which I knew nothing. That rule has 
saved me from much awkwardness and embarrassment, as 
it would also save others were it adopted by them. 

But if it be a " delusion," then the greater necessity of 
investigating it and showing it to be such. I have as great 
an interest in ascertaining that fact as any other man. If 
it be " spiritual," there is much less necessity for its inves- 
tigation, because its march will be onward, and no human 
power can resist it. Do away with the " delusion," if it be 
one, and you do away the insanity which, it is sometimes 
alleged, is consequent upon it ; and although the honor- 
able gentleman's bill granting lands for insane asylums 
would still be necessary for the vast numbers rendered such 
by religious excitement, still they would have fewer in- 
mates by reason of the humane principles adopted by this 
investigation, namely, of preventing instead of curing or 
palliating the disease. 

I hope, therefore, that the " lame and impotent conclu- 
sion" to which the Senate arrived, of laying the memorial 
on the table, may be reconsidered, and that it may receive 
that consideration which its importance demands. 

Kespectfully, yours, 1ST. P. Tallmadge. 

Washington, April 18, 1854. 

On the day following, General Shields responded briefly 
as follows : 

SENATOR SHIELDS IN SELF-VINDICATION. 

Washington, April 19, 1854. 
To the Editors of the National Intfllig^tvc^r : 

Gentl erii en— Hotl N. P Tallniadge, in his letter in your paper of to-day, 
does me injustice, which I presume is unintentional When he requested me 
to present his petition, I assured him in a few words that I was no believer in 
" the spiritual theory," and, in addition, that I could not see upon what prin- 
ciple it could be either referred to, or considered by, a Select Committee His 
earnestness on the subject was such as might easily have led him to misunder- 
stand me on this point. I promised to present his petition, and I did so, and 
then took the liberty of giving my own views upon the subject generally. 

Respectfully, yours, James Shields. 



470 APPENDIX 



SECOND LETTER FROM MR. TALLMADGE. 

Messes. Gales and Seaton : 

The note of General Shields in the Intelligence!' of this 
morning requires a few lemarks from me. He assumes 
that there was a misunderstanding on my part as to his 
willingness to move the reference of the memorial to a 
Select Committee. Let your readers judge of this from 
the circumstances in the case. 

The primary object was to have the memorial presented 
by a Senator who would move a Select Committee, and 
who, of course, would be chairman of it, and, by the very 
motion, w T ould signify his willingness to take charge of it. 
The subject was peculiarly one for a Select Committee, 
because there was no Standing Committee to which it could 
be appropriately referred. There was no difficulty in find- 
ing a Senator who was willing simply to present the memo- 
rial. Probably no Senator in that honorable body would, on 
request, have refused an act of courtesy like that, especially 
when the memorial, to use the honorable gentleman's own 
language, " had been prepared with singular ability, pre- 
senting the subject with great delicacy and moderation." 
The very object, therefore, was to place it in the hands of 
a Senator who would cheerfully perform that duty. I had 
spoken to only one Senator on the subject previous to my 
call on the honorable gentleman. That Senator treated 
the matter with the utmost respect and kindness ; agreed 
that a Select Committee was the appropriate reference, but 
that he could not move it, because he would, of course, be 
chairman, and his other business was so burdensome that 
it would be im.possible to give the subject that attention 
which it deserved. He then told me he thought General 
Shields would be the best man to present the memorial 
and to move the Select Committee, and that he would no 
doubt do it. 

It was on the suggestion of this Senator that I called on 
General Shields. Impressed with the importance and the 



APPENDIX. 471 

necessity of a Select Committee, can it be for one moment 
presumed that I could misunderstand the honorable gentle- 
man, and leave the memorial in his charge, when I knew 
the great object I had in view could not be accomplished? 
But the honorable gentleman says he " could not see upon 
what principle it could be either referred to or considered 
by a Select Committee." Why, a Senator of any experi- 
ence would, I should suppose, have no doubt or difficulty 
on that subject. The gentleman, as the proceedings of the 
Senate show, was willing to have it referred to the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Eelations ; and if it was proper to refer it 
to a Standing Committee, was it not equally proper to refer 
it to a Select Committee ? When I say equally proper, I 
mean so far as a mere reference and a consideration of the 
subject were concerned. What are the objects of a Select 
Committee ? They are two. First, where the subject, 
although appropriate to a Standing Committee, is of that 
magnitude and importance to require the more deliberate 
and thorough investigation of a Select Committee, which 
is burdened with no other reference, and in the constitu- 
tion of which the talent of the body best suited to the 
investigation may be combined ; secondly, where the sub- 
ject is not appropriate to a Standing Committee, but is 
peculiarly appropriate to a Select Committe. A memorial, 
therefore, coming within either of the objects mentioned, 
can appropriately be referred to a Select Committee. The 
memorial under consideration came within the latter. If, 
then, it was proper to refer it to a Standing Committee, to 
which the honorable gentleman very willingly agreed, it 
was equally proper to refer it to a Select Committee. From 
this conclusion there is no escape. Any doubt as to the 
power of Congress to grant the prayer of the memorialists 
in any case, is no objection to referring the memorial itself 
either to a Standing or a Select Committee, because the 
Committee can more deliberately examine and judge of 
that power than the body itself can on the hasty view taken 
of it on a mere motion of reference. On the coming in of 



472 APPENDIX. 

the report of the Committee, then, is the time to discuss 
the question of power. 

The clear understanding, therefore, on my part, was that 
General Shields would present the memorial and move its 
reference to a Select Committee. How could I understand 
it otherwise, when that was the very object of the applica- 
tion to him ? Any other conclusion would make me stul- 
tify myself. Neither can any unprejudiced mind in this 
view of the case come to any other conclusion. The hon- 
orable gentleman, therefore, must be laboring under some 
strange hallucination on this subject ; more strange, in- 
deed, than the " delusion" under which he, with so much 
delicacy and self-complacency, supposed these memorial- 
ists were laboring, because they had come to a conclusion 
different from his own on a subject which, from thorough 
investigation, they were presumed to understand, and 
which, for want of investigation, he was presumed to know 
nothing about ! 

But, again, if the honorable gentleman did not intend to 
move the Select Committee, why did he not indicate that 
intention in a manner that could not be misunderstood ? 
He knew perfectly well, or ought to have known, that the 
Select Committee was the great object I had in view; and 
can he suppose that I would have placed the memorial in 
his hands, if I could have imagined that it was to receive 
the treatment it did ? Most assuredly not. Some two 
weeks elapsed between the time of delivering the memo- 
rial to him and its presentation by him to the Senate. 
During this time I saw him twice ; the last time was on 
Thursday evening preceding the Monday on which the 
memorial was presented. If he had made up his mind 
that he could not move a Select Committee, but should feel 
bound to present his views against it, why did he not so 
inform me, and suggest that I place the memorial in other 
hands? That is the course I should have pursued, if I had 
been occupying, as I did for many years, a seat in that 
honorable body. Was not such a course due to me ? And 



APPENDIX. 473 

above all, was not such a course due to himself? Instead 
of that, and instead of pondering over these extraordinary 
phenomena set forth in the memorial, the most extraordi- 
nary in the history of the world, and which philosophy 
and science might have been proud to investigate, he seems 
to have been turning over the pages of some cyclopaedia to 
lind materials for the luminous exhibition which he made 
before the Senate ! 

This is not all. The honorable gentleman was not con- 
tent to present his views in a grave and serious manner 
becoming the subject, but he attempted to ridicule, not 
only the subject, but those who had memorialized Congress 
in relation to it. The result will show whether the attempt- 
ed ridicule will fall on them or react on himself. I will 
only add that there are names on that memorial which 
do not shrink in comparison with any member of the hon- 
orable Senate — names that have adorned the Bar, the 
Bench, and the Senate Chamber ; names of the hardy sons 
of toil, whose brawny hands and stalwart arms have been 
thus fashioned by the industrial pursuits of life ; names the 
representatives of two millions of believers in the United 
States; names of those "who know their rights, and, 
knowing, dare maintain" them. These memorialists, and 
those whom they represent, are not only entitled to respect, 
but they will command it. They are not to be put aside 
by any attempt to minister to a prejudiced public senti- 
ment. The question is to be fairly met. The days of im- 
posture and " delusion" in relation to it have gone by ; the 
honorable gentleman will no longer be able to protect him- 
self by that senseless cry ; and when he again has occasion 
to quote Burke's beautiful aphorism, as he terms it, that 
" the Credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as the invention 
of knaves," he may find in it a more extended application 
than he at first supposed. 

Respectfully, yours, !N". P. Tallmadge. 

Washington, April 20, 1854 



474 APPENDIX. 

Concluding remarks by the editor of the " Spiritual Telegraph," in which 
the above letters were published. 

The letters of our honorable friend are wisely conceived 
and admirably expressed. They will be the means of call- 
ing general attention to the subject, while the profane and 
sacrilegious spirit of the opposition will be rebuked, and 
the truth vindicated. The serious tone and civil severity 
of Mr. Tallmadge are peculiarly adapted to correct the bad 
habits of titled ignorance and arrogance, and will impose 
a salutary restraint precisely where it is most needed. We 
have a serene faith that great good will result from the dis- 
cussion which the conduct of Gen. Shields is likely to occa- 
sion. The truth is indestructible, and can not be damaged 
by any such exhibition of Congressional quixotism. Some 
men are still determined that Spiritualism shall prove to 
be a " fog-hankP One after another they continue to run 
their devoted heads against it in spite of their best friends. 
Those who have reputation or brains stand a chance to 
lose what they have by this experiment, as they are sure 
to find an. immovable rock where they only look for yield- 
ing and impalpable vapors. 



The following letter appeared originally in the New York Tribune, com- 
municated by the lady to whom it was addressed : 

Baltimore, Tuesday, April 12, 1853. 

Dear Madam — I seize a few leisure moments, while de- 
tained here a short time on business, to give you a more 
extended account of the " Physical Manifestations" to which 
I alluded in a former letter. In this account I shall con- 
fine myself to those which purport to come from the spirit 
of J )iin C. Calhoun. 

I have received numerous communications from him, 
from the commencement of my investigation of this subject 



APPENDIX. 475 

down to the present time. Those communications have 
been received through rapping mediums, writing mediums, 
and speaking mediums. They are of the most extraordi- 
nary character. In style and sentiment they would do 
honor to him in his best days on earth. 

After the arrival of the Misses Fox in "Washington city, 
in February last, I called on them by appointment, and at 
once received a communication from Calhoun. 

I then wrote down and propounded mentally the follow- 
ing question : 

Can you do any thing (meaning physical manifestations) to confirm me in 
the truth of these revelations, and to remove from my mind the least shadow 
of unbelief ? 

To which I received the following answer : 

I will give you a communication on Monday, at half-past seven o'clock. 
Do not fail to be here. I will then give you an explanation. 

John C. Calhoun. 

It is proper here to remark, that all the communications 
referred to in this letter were made by Calhoun after a call 
for the alphabet, and were rapped out, letter by letter, and 
taken down by me in the usual way. They were made in 
the presence of the Misses Fox and their mother. 

I called on Monday at the hour appointed, and received 
the following communication : 

My friend, the question is often put to you, " What good can result from 
these manifestations ?" I will answer it : 

It is to draw mankind together in harmony, and convince skeptics of the 
immortality of the soul. John C. Calhoun. 

This reminds me that, in 1850, at Bridgeport, in the 
presence of other mediums, among many questions put 
and answers received, were the following — the answer pur- 
porting to come from W. E. Channing. 

Q. — What do spirits propose to accomplish by these new manifestations ? 
A. — To unite mankind, and to convince skeptical minds of the immortality 
of the soul. 

The coincidence in sentiment of the answer of J. C. Cal- 
houn and of W. E. Channing in regard to the object of 
these manifestations is remarkable, and worthy of particu- 



476 APPENDIX. 

lar notice. The concurrence of two such great minds, 
whether in or out of the body, on a subject so engrossing, 
can not fail to command the attention of every admirer 
of exalted intellect and moral purity. 

During the above communication of Calhoun, the table 
moved occasionally, perhaps a foot, first one way and then 
the other. After the communication closed, we all moved 
back from the table, from two to four feet, so that no one 
touched it. Suddenly it moved from the position it occu- 
pied some three or four feet, rested a few moments, and 
then moved back again to its original position. Then it 
again moved as far the other way, and returned to the 
place it started from. One side of it was then raised, and 
stood for a few moments at an angle of about thirty-five 
degrees, and then again rested on the floor as usual. 

The table was a large, heavy, round one, at which ten or 
a dozen persons might be seated at dinner. During all 
these movements no person touched it, nor was -any one near 
it. After seeing it raised in the manner above mentioned, 
I had the curiosity to test its weight by raising it myself. 
I accordingly took my seat by it, placed my hands under 
the leaf, and exerted as much force as I was capable of in 
that sitting posture, and could not raise it a particle from 
the floor. I then stood up, in the best possible position to 
exert the greatest force, took hold of the leaf, and still 
could not raise it with all the strength I could apply. I 
then requested the three ladies to take hold around the 
table, and try altogether to lift it. We lifted upon it until 
the leaf and top began to crack, and did not raise it a par- 
ticle. We then desisted, fearing we should break it. I 
then said, "Will the spirits permit me to raise the table?'' 
I took hold alone, and raised it without difficulty ! 
After this the following conversation ensued : 

q # — Can you raise the table entirely from the floor ? 

A.— Yes. 

Q.— Will you raise me with it ? 

A. — Yes; get me the square table. 



APPENDIX. 477 

The square table was of cherry, with four legs — a large- 
sized tea-table. It was brought out and substituted for the 
round one, the leaves being raised. I took my seat on the 
center; the three ladies sat at the sides and end, their 
hands and arms resting upon it. This, of course, added to 
the weight to be raised, namely, my own weight and tha 
weight of the table. Two legs of it were then raised about 
six inches from the floor ; and then the other two legs were 
raised to a level of the first, so that the whole table was sus- 
pended in the air about six inches above the floor. While 
thus seated on it, I could feel a gentle, vibratory motion, 
as if floating in the atmosphere. After being thus sus- 
pended in the air for a few moments, the table was gently 
let down again to the floor ! 

Some pretend to say that these physical manifestations 
are made by electricity ! I should like to know by what 
laws of electricity known to us, a table is at one time riv- 
eted, as it were, to the floor, against all the force that 
could be exerted to raise it; and at another time raised 
entirely from the floor with more than two hundred pounds' 
weight upon it ? 

At a subsequent meeting Calhoun directed me to bring 
three bells and a guitar. I brought them accordingly. 
The bells were of different sizes — the largest like a small- 
sized dinner-bell. He directed a drawer to be put under 
the square table. I put under a bureau drawer, bottom 
side up. He directed the bells to be placed on the drawer. 
The three ladies and myself were seated at the table, with 
our hands and arms resting on it. The bells commenced 
ringing in a sort of chime. Numerous raps were made, as 
if beating time to a march. The bells continued to ring, 
and to chime in with the beating of time. The time of 
the march was slow and solemn. It was beautiful and 
perfect. The most fastidious ear could not detect any dis- 
crepancy in it. 

The raps then ceased, and the bells rang violently for 
several minutes. A bell was then pressed on my foot, my 



478 APPENDIX. 

ankle, and my knee. This was at different times repeated. 
Knocks were made most vehemently against the under side 
of the table, so that a large tin candlestick was, by every 
blow, raised completely from the table by the concussion ! 

I afterward examined the under side of the table (which 
it will be recollected was of cherry), and found indenta- 
tions in the wood, made by the end of the handle of the 
bell, which was tipped with brass. Could electricity make 
those violent knocks with the handle of the bell, causing 
indentations, and raising the candlestick from the table at 
every blow ? Or was it done by the same invisible power 
that riveted the table to the floor, and again raised it, with 
all the weight upon it, entirely above the floor ? 

Here the ringing of the bells ceased, and then I felt sen- 
sibly and distinctly the impression of a hand on my foot, 
ankle, and knee. These manifestations were several times 
repeated. 

I was then directed to put the guitar on the drawer. We 
were all seated as before, with our hands and arms resting 
on the table. 

The guitar was touched softly and gently, and gave forth 
sweet and delicious sounds, like the accompaniment to a 
beautiful and exquisite piece of music. It then played a 
sort of symphony, in much louder and bolder tones. And, 
as it played, these harmonious sounds, becoming soft and 
sweet and low, began to recede, and grew fainter and 
fainter, till they died away on the ear in the distance. 
Then they returned, and grew louder and nearer, till they 
were heard again, in full and gushing volume as when they 
commenced. 

I am utterly incapable of giving any adequate idea of 
the beauty and harmony of this music. I have heard the 
guitar touched by the most delicate and scientific hands, 
and heard from it, under such guidance, the most splendid 
performances, but never did I hear any thing that fas- 
tened upon the very soul like these prophetic strains 
drawn out by an invisible hand from the spirit-world. 



APPENDIX. 479 

Whilst listening to it, I was ready to exclaim, in the lan- 
guage of the Bard of Avon : 

" That strain again — it had a dying fall ; 
it came o'er my ear like the sweet south, 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
Stealing and giving odor." 

After the music had ceased, the following communica- 
tion was received : 

This is my hand that touches you and the guitar. 

John C. Calhoun 

At another time, the following physical manifestation 
was made in the presence of Gen. Hamilton, Gen. "Wadcly 
Thompson, of South Carolina, and myself: 

We were directed to place the Bible on a drawer under 
the table. I placed it there, completely closed. It was a 
small pocket Bible, with very fine print. Numerous raps 
were then heard, beating time to "Hail Columbia," which 
had been called for. Soon the sounds began to recede, 
and grew fainter and fainter, till, like the music of the 
guitar, they died away in the distance. The alphabet was 
then called for, and it was spelled out, " Look." I looked 
on the drawer and found the Bible open. I took it up, and 
carefully kept it open at the place as I found it. On bring- 
ing it to the light, I found it open at St. John's Gospel — 
chapter ii. being on the left side, and chapter iii. being on 
the right side. I said : 

Q. — Do you wish us to look at chapter ii. ? 
A.— No. 

Q. — Do you wish us to look at chapter iii. ? 
A.— Yes. 

And it was then said, " Eead." I commenced reading 
the chapter, and significant and emphatic raps were given 
at many verses ; and at verses 8, 11, 19, 34 most vehement 
raps were given. By looking at these verses, you will ap- 
preciate the significanc.y and intelligence of this emphatic 
demonstration. This manifestation purported to come from 
Calhoun, who had previously invited us three gentlemen 
to be present at a particular hour. 



480 APPENDIX. 

In reflecting on the preceding manifestations, one can 
not but marvel at the power by which thej are made, and 
the intelligence by which that power is directed. And it 
would seem impossible for one to doubt the source of that 
intelligence. If, however, doubt should still remain on the 
mind of any one acquainted with similar manifestations, 
that doubt must be entirely dispelled by the account of the 
manifestation which follows : 

I was present, by Calhoun's appointment, with the Misses 
Fox and their mother. We were seated at the table as 
heretofore, our hands and arms resting upon it. I was di- 
rected to put paper and pencil on the drawer. I placed 
several sheets of unruled letter paper, together with a wood 
pencil on it. I soon heard the sound of the pencil on the 
paper. It was then rapped out : 

Get the pencil and sharpen it. 

I looked under the table, but did not see the pencil. At 
length I found it lying diagonally from me, three or four 
feet from the table. The lead was broken off within the 
wood. I sharpened it, and again put it on the drawer. 
Again I heard the sound of the pencil on the paper. On 
being directed to look at the paper, I discovered pencil- 
marks on each side of the outer sheet, but no writing. Then 
was received the following communication : 

The power is not enough to write a sentence. This will show you that I 
can write. If you meet on Friday, precisely at seven, I will write a short 
sentence. , John C. Calhottn. 

We met, pursuant to appointment — took our seats at the 
table, our hands and arms resting on it as usual. I placed 
the paper, with my silver-cased pencil, on the drawer, and 
said : 

My friend, I wish the sentence to be in your own handwriting, so that 
your friends will recognize it. 

He replied : 

You will know the writing. 

lie tli en said : 
Have your minds on the spirit of John C. Calhoun. 



APPENDIX. 481 

I soon heard a rapid movement of the pencil on the 
paper, and a rustling of the paper, together with a move- 
ment of the drawer. I was then directed to look under the 
drawer. I looked, and found my pencil outside of the 
drawer, near my feet, but found no paper on the drawer 
where I placed it. On raising up the drawer I discovered 
the paper all under it. The sheets were a little deranged, 
and on examining I found on the outside sheet these words : 

" I'm with you still." 

I afterward showed the " sentence" to Gen. James Ham- 
ilton, former Governor of South Carolina, Gen. Waddy 
Thompson, former Minister to Mexico, Gen. Robert B. 
Campbell, late Consul at Havana, together with other 
intimate friends of Calhoun, and also to one of his sons, 
all of whom are as well acquainted w T ith his handwriting 
as their own, and they all pronounced it to be a perfect 
facsimile of the handwriting of John C. Calhoun. 

Gen. Hamilton stated a fact in connection with this 
writing of great significance. He says that Calhoun was 
in the habit of writing "I'm" for " I am," and that he has 
numerous letters from him where the abbreviation is thus 
used. 

Mrs. Gen. Macomb has stated the same fact to me. She 
says that her husband, the late Gen. Macomb, has shown 
to her Calhoun's letters to him, where this abbreviation 
" I'm" was used for "I am," and spoke of it as a peculiar- 
ity of Calhoun. 

How significant, then, does this fact become ! We have 
not only the most unequivocal testimony to the hand- 
writing itself, but, lest any skeptic should suggest the pos- 
sibility of an imitation or a counterfeit, this abbreviation, 
peculiar to himself, and known only to his most intimate 
friends, and which no imitator or counterfeiter could know, 
is introduced by way of putting such a suggestion to flight 
forever ! 

This " sentence" is perfectly characteristic of Calhoun. 
It contains his terseness of style and his condensation of 
v 3i 



482 APPENDIX. 

thought. It is a text from which volumes might be writ- 
ten. It proves, 

1. The immortality of the soul. 

2. The power of spirits to revisit the earth.* 

3. Their ability to communicate with relatives and 
friends. 

4. The identity of the spirit to all eternity. 

How one's soul expands with these sublime conceptions ! 
How resistless is this testimony of their truth ! How sur- 
prising that men can doubt, when this flood of living light 
is poured upon them by spirits who, in the language of 
Webster, " revel in the glory of the eternal light of God." 

Yery truly, yours, 

N. P. Tallmadge. 

Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, Providence. R. I. 



The following " Address to the Citizens of the United States," by " The So- 
ciety for Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge," was given by Webster, through a 
speaking medium : 

TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

But a few short years ago, in an obscure locality, and 
under circumstances which seemed to warrant the belief in 
an early termination of the so-called dream, Spiritualism, 
in its present form, was born. Its few advocates, in the 
early days of its life, were looked upon as lunatic — were 
despised for their faith ; and men of respectability and 
standing in society could hardly be found who were willing 
to examine into the facts connected with the alleged phe- 
nomena, for fear of the reproach of the entire unbelieving 
community. Since that period, Spiritualism has extended 
with a rapidity unprecedented in the annals of the world, 
until, to-day, it has become a respectable power in society. 



APPENDIX. 483 

Men, whose education and whose genius have fitted them 
for occupying the highest stations, either in politics or in 
the Church, have sacrificed all positions of earthly aggran- 
dizement for the sake of what they believe to be the 
enjoyment of high and holy truth. Connected with that 
movement, to-day, are many hundreds and thousands of 
men who are respected by their neighbors for their integ- 
rity and worth — esteemed and loved by their friends for 
their many amiable qualities. The subject has arrested 
the attention of the learned all over this land, and in many 
other lands. It has produced books, for and against. 
Many of the publications, on both sides of the question, 
are marked by ability and strength. 

Within the last two years, Spiritualism has increased in 
strength and stature, with a growth unprecedented in the 
history of mental giants. If it be a lie, there is every 
prospect of its enveloping this world, and, by its weight, 
sinking this world one degree lower in the depth of deg- 
radation. If it be a lie, it has come in so lovely a garb 
that men will seek it, unless they be warned by a strong 
voice ; men will flee to it as though it were an angel sent 
from Heaven — will become enveloped in its false light, and 
will be borne down to death by the weight of its false 
glory. If it be a lie, ye men of America, who have one 
thought toward the good of your fellows, it is your duty to 
come forward as one man, to tear the vail from the face of 
the lie, and expose it in all its hideousness. We challenge 
you, as men — as earnest men, as men desiring the good of 
your fellows — to come forth and meet us in the fight, ex- 
pose our errors, draw the shroud away, and enable the 
world to see us as we are. We challenge you to come and 
do that thing. 

We believe that Spirituality is a Heaven-born truth. We 
profess to know that angels from Heaven — that the spirits 
of good men, progressing toward perfection — have come 
here upon the earth we stand on, and talked with us, face 
to face, and uttered words to us bearing the impress of 



484 APPENDIX. 

their divine origin. We sincerely believe this. We are 
respectable men ; we do not believe ourselves to be insane. 
We ask you to come and meet us, and discuss the question 
with us ; to examine these facts which we allege, and to 
prove, if you are able, either that these facts never did 
occur, or that their origin is other than that which it pur- 
ports to be. 

We come before you in this present shape to show you 
to what a height the giant has attained. We come to you 
in this present shape to show you who are Spiritualists — 
who are the madmen in this world, who believe themselves 
to be the really clear-minded and sane men in this world. 
In this movement, which we have commenced, we believe 
we are the humble instruments in the hands of higher 
powers for the production of great results. We are proud 
of the posts we occupy. We are not ashamed to present 
our names for your consideration. We are not ashamed to 
meet you on an equal platform, as men, and talk with you 
concerning this subject. 

Citizens of the United States, we feel authority for say- 
ing that the day for raising the cry of humbug, chicanery, 
delusion, has passed away forever. You know — all of you 
who have reflective minds — that the application of these 
terms to this subject can no longer produce results ; but 
that rather these invectives, launched at your supposed 
enemies, will rebound upon yourselves, and cover you with 
weakness. Your professed teachers, your men in high 
places, the learned of your universities, the eloquent of 
your pulpits, have dealt in them long enough. And what 
results have they achieved ? The theories which the uni- 
versities sent forth to account for the alleged phenomena, 
as they were pleased to term them, have not only rendered 
their authors, but the universities, ridiculous in the minds 
of intelligent men. All the theories which they reared 
have crumbled to the dust, and their authors can not shake 
that dust from off their clothing. It will cling to them so 
long as they stand upon this earth, and longer still. 



APPENDIX. 485 

Your pulpits — and we speak kindly when we speak of 
them, for they have a holy office, whether they perform 
that office or no — your pulpits have launched forth invec- 
tives. The cry of delusion and chicanery has been heard 
all over the land. But that was some time ago. It pro- 
duced no effect, except upon the churches themselves ; and 
that course was abandoned. Policy was now adopted — 
another plan was accepted as the true one for accounting 
for the Spiritual Manifestations, and which has been pro- 
mulgated, not only from the pulpits, but by the religious 
press of this country, namely, that evil spirits have visited 
the earth, still further to delude deluded mortals. "What 
pity ! what pity ! They have ascertained that ! Their ser- 
mons, their published communications, contain that asser- 
tion from their high dignitaries. It is very strange, if they 
believe this thing — that evil spirits can come to do evil on 
this earth — that good spirits will not be permitted by the 
good God also to come upon this earth to effect good pur- 
poses! We profess to believe both these propositions. 
We leave you to examine the subject for yourselves. And 
we can tell you, one and all, if you will render your minds 
receptive to the truth, and will engage in the investigation 
of this subject, it will appear as clear as light in the noon- 
day, that spirits, both good and evil, do come here upon 
the earth, among their friends and relatives, and acquaint- 
ances, and affinities, and teach them good things and bad ; 
for this is true. We say, then, reflect, ponder on these 
things; investigate, and as you shall decide, so shall be 
your progress here, and your everlasting progress hereafter. 



486 APPENDIX, 



The following Discourse on " Civilization" is from Alexander Hamilton, 
through a speaking medium : 

My friends, intimately connected with the two subjects 
on which I have addressed you — the History of the Bible 
and the History of Christianity — is the History of Civili- 
zation, on which subject I intend to address you briefly 
to-day. 

It is to the East that we look for the first smile of the 
morning ; and when the sun has set, it is to the East that 
we look for the first star of evening, which will contribute 
its share toward making the midnight beautiful. All things 
seem to come by a regular law from the East, and flow by 
law toward the "West. Thus has it been in the history of 
the world — in the history of the Bible and of Christianity. 
Both have come from the East, and marched with strength 
and power toward the West ; both will never stop in their 
course till they reach the borders of the ocean which bounds 
your country. So has it been with Civilization. Before 
any of those with which you are intimately acquainted ex- 
isted, there was a civilization as high in its pride as any 
that ever existed upon the surface of the earth, the civiliza- 
tion of Judea. But that died away, and left scarce a trace 
of its being ; and the monuments hewn from lofty mount- 
ains is all that is left to mark that it ever lived. The civ- 
ilization of Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, in the Eastern 
world were born ; there they lived, and there they found 
their graves, and the sands of the Desert have covered 
them up. Curious antiquarians have exhumed their moid- 
eri ng remains, and tried to find something that was vital in 
them, but hitherto without success. There is nothing beau- 
tiful about them ; they are mere monuments of physical 
power. They tell a history within themselves ; they never 



APPENDIX. 487 

could have existed had it not been that there were men 
raised high upon golden thrones, with their heels upon the 
necks of the people. They told that story in stone. The 
pyramids contain chambers in which repose the ashes of 
the monarchs who reared them. The spirits of those mon- 
archs are borne down in their spirit-homes by a weight of 
sin ten thousand times as huge as those stupendous pyra- 
mids. Their spirits can not soar in consequence of those 
very monuments. They are fixed, not for a century, not 
for two centuries, but for thousands of years. The dead 
whom those pyramids have made dead, are crying for 
vengeance on their oppressors, and it must and will be sat- 
isfied. God has said that, and it must be true. If those 
monuments were builded with human bones, they must be 
clothed again in flesh before their bodies can rise to their 
proper spheres as children of God. All those things which 
have been looked upon with so much reverence and awe 
are monuments of vile corruptions — of misery and wretch- 
edness, rather than of grandeur and power. Look to the 
fair fields of Egypt, and see what they are to-day, and in- 
quire within your minds what made them as they are, and 
look around about you and you will see the answer. The 
pyramids and the temples — the monuments of grandeur — 
made fertile Egypt sterile. 

Every thing which is born upon the earth must die. 
Every seed contains within its germ another seed, the seed 
of death, which counteracts the creation, not the Creator. 
The acorn, planted in the ground, bursts its shell, strikes its 
roots, seems vigorous with life ; but as the sap rises in the 
oak, it.carries subtile death along to leaf and branch. That 
tree must die, because it was born. Truth only is eternal, 
because truth is God. Those old civilizations of Egypt, 
and Assyria, and Baoylon have passed away, and they 
have left the seeds of something newer and better upon the 
ruins. 

I do not intend to give you any facts of history, but 
merely a sketch of what has transpired in this world — that, 



488 APPENDIX. 

knowing of the past, yon may be able the better to judge 
of the future which is to come. Greece looked in youth 
immortal ; she was strong in her numbers, strong in her 
right arm, strong in her individual men. As long as she 
remained content within her boundaries, she seemed to be 
full of life, and had no fear of death. Greece grew power- 
ful, reared monuments, builded temples, in which she 
worshiped her gods ; she kneeled before the attributes of 
the Creator, not before the Creator himself. There was 
one seed of corruption : she neglected too much the educa- 
tion and elevation of her people. There was another : she 
believed too strongly in war. There was a third and a 
greater : she was not content to live within herself. She 
gave a few ambitious men opportunities for raising them- 
selves upon a platform above their fellows, from whence 
they might lift others who were their votaries and their 
dependents. That was another, and the worst seed of 
corruption and death. Greece lived her time. Greece is 
dead and gone, and whited pillars mark the spot where she 
once strode abroad in all her pride. But Greece herself 
has passed away forever. Go among her mountains now ; 
stand upon the borders of her rivers and look about you. 
What do you see ? You will not meet a Greek among all 
the Grecian names. By all the classic rivers, by all the 
lofty mountains, you will not hear one voice of Greek. 
That race is passed away and gone forever. 

But in her stead arose another power, equal to her own, 
and greater — a power which combined within itself all ele- 
ments which seem to warrant immortality. Intellect, that 
was one element ; physical force, that was another. Rome 
arose in her might, from the City of the Seven Hills. She 
dictated, here and there, the course which dependent na- 
tions should pursue. She endeavored to collect the intel- 
lect of humanity in one band, which was capable, of its 
own strength, to overthrow all other bands — reigning su- 
preme over this world. How was this band of force com- 
posed? How was this physical discipline to effect this 



APPENDIX. 489 

great work ? Men will not serve in the ranks as common 
soldiers who are capable of leading armies. Men, elevated 
in their conceptions of right and wrong, will not suffer 
themselves to be led blindly by a brother man. jSTo, they 
must be degraded ; sunk into a lower stage of being, inde- 
pendent of reason or of thought, in order that they may be 
proper instruments in the hands of intellectual power to 
effect great purposes. Gradually as "the leaders in Eome 
grew more powerful in intellect, the masses of the people 
became more and more degraded, the distinction between 
the leaders and the led more obvious. But by-and-by the 
scales were turned, and Eome, instead of being the in- 
vader, became the invaded. Now did the seeds of cor- 
ruption make themselves manifest. Those who had been 
kept debased, that they might be the more easily led to 
conquest, cared not if their country was invaded. They 
had no interest in its welfare. They would not rise as one 
man, and say to the invading powers, If you enter here, 
you must pass over our bodies. They had no feeling of 
that sort ; patriotism was unknown to them. It was the 
pay of soldiers which they asked. The debasement which 
the powerful had inflicted upon them, century after centu- 
ry, for carrying out their high purposes, was the cause, the 
primal cause, of Rome's decay, Rome's death and sickening 
corruption. Rome died because she debased herself. The 
natives would not rise and defend themselves against in- 
vading nations, knowing that they had but the choice be- 
tween two evils. They would as lief an invader would 
come and rule over them as their native princes. Those 
hordes which invaded them were armed with strength of 
natural thought. They came, and they were as irresistible 
as the hurricane. They marched from the mountains ; they 
came like an army of locusts upon the land, and they blot- 
ted out the old civilization in a space of time hardly appre- 
ciable by man, and planted in its place their own. They 
were men who could do something with the earth — who 
did not ask leaders what to do. Leadership was a station 



490 APPENDIX. 

to which each man might aspire. But democrats are al- 
ways stronger, hundreds to one, than subjects of despot- 
ism. They have something to fight for ; they feel their 
independence. They are the men who say unto the inva- 
der, Come on, but if you come you must march over me. 
He feels that he is in his own country. The subject of 
despotism only feels that if he does not perform the task 
assigned him, he shall receive stripes from his own friends. 
He does not fight with his soul, he only fights with his 
arms. 

"Well, Rome could not resist the inroads made upon her. 
She hardly was left a trace of herself that could be de- 
stroyed. There remained a few volumes here and there, 
monuments of her intellectual power ; monuments of her 
physical, temporal power also remained ; but Rome was 
gone. Upon her own ruins were built new civilizations 
and new nations. Those barbarians reared for themselves 
fabrics to dwell in. They said, We will do something 
with this land which you have made so beggarly ; we will 
draw out the resources of these soils ; we will increase our 
substance. 

Men, when brought together, must fight either with the 
tongue or with the arm. They will fight, and the barba- 
rians could do no less ; they were set one against the other. 
It was found necessary that they should separate. Differ- 
ent parties took different directions. They built cities ; 
every day the cities enlarged, and became strong nations, 
which lived and grew, until, having more vitality than 
others, they devoured the smaller. 

Europe began to smile. Christianity at this time took 
a peculiar turn. Christianity — the pure, holy teachings of 
Jesus — was taken by men as authority for war. Men 
fought in the name of God and of Christ. Men swore re- 
venge by all the saints in the calendar, and by the holy 
names contained in the Bible. It is very strange how men 
can twist and turn a simple thing ; how men can look upon 
white, and really think it is black ; but so they do, some- 



APPENDIX. 491 

times, and so they did when they went to* battle in the 
name of God and of Christ, and fought with those names 
upon their lips. And their spirits left their bodies on the 
battle-field calmly and quietly, as though they had been 
upon a bed of holy love and Christian hope of a hereafter. 
Those men fought in the name of Christ, and in the com- 
motion caused by what has been termed the age of chiv- 
alry, the new and better civilization was born. 

By-and-by, when the people became rich, they said : If 
we are to do the fighting, we must do some of the governing. 
So the government was gradually taken away from the feu- 
dal lords and placed in the hands of the people. A strug- 
gle soon arose, and it became necessary to see who were 
most important in the body politic. It was soon perceived 
that the physical power would gain the day, and the des- 
pots must be content to take the second rank. In some 
countries this was the case ; in some countries despotism 
prevailed. The people writhed in their agony, and cried 
aloud to God to send them some one to lead them on, and 
enable them to triumph over their adversaries, and govern 
themselves as they pleased. Such a leader was sent, in- 
spired by Heaven for the work he had to do. He collected 
together the elements of popular feeling in one mass, and 
hurled it at the despots of human freedom. No earthly 
power could stay his hand. He fulfilled his office. It was 
not for him to change at once the whole appearance of this 
world. But I prophesy here, that in the future there is a 
time, not far distant, when all those fabrics of government 
which were so shaken and weakened by the arm of l^apo- 
leon, shall be overthrown, shall fall with hideous crash. 
The despots shall fall beneath their ruins, and the people 
shall rise upon the mass of rubbish, plant their standard 
there, and shout " Liberuta" I prophesy that thing. I 
have looked back more years than you can count. This 
world has never yet taken a backward step. It has always 
been going on and on, but has never rested. I can see 
now, that the next time the day-side of Nature presents 



492 APPENDIX. 

itself, ifc will show the people triumphant. God has "been 
governing His Universe. All governmental institutions of 
the present day shall die, so sure as God shall live. They 
shall fall — shall crush beneath their ruins all oppression, 
all bigotry, all superstition, and the bodies and minds of 
men shall be left as free as air. 

Civilizations heretofore have only visited the bodies of 
men ; the new shall visit the souls. The new shall no 
longer provide raiment for the back, but shall fill the inte- 
riors with knowledge and truth. It is to be an entirely 
new thing upon the surface of this earth ; it is to set all 
men free ; to enable them to look, each one for himself 
individually, and receive that which he needs for spiritual 
food. God gives, and the child receives ; that will be the 
order hereafter ; that will be the knowledge of the truth 
throughout this world, that God himself is the Giver — that 
each child is the direct receiver. 

As I said at first, the sun rises in the East, goes in his 
appointed course through the day, and sinks in the far 
ocean ; so civilization has arisen and started in the East, 
has crossed the ocean to your own country, and is pro- 
gressing with giant strides to the great barrier of mount- 
ains in your Western wilds ; and it wilf continue its march 
until it is stopped by the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 
When civilization reaches that point, it will have reached 
a higher point of progress — it will be a better, deeper, and 
more spiritual civilization than has heretofore existed upon 
this earth. Its progress will be checked by the rocky bar- 
rier, but it will pile up its elements ; it will rear them 
until they overtop its summit. Then will the march of 
Time have circumscribed this earth ; then will a perfection 
have been attained to which the old civilizations of India 
seem barbarism ; and in the East civilization shall com- 
mence again its march, which shall again circumscribe this 
earth, and again find its limit on the Pacific coast. 

This government under which you live, though better, 
perhaps, than any which has preceded, must die — must 



APPENDIX. 493 

give place to some better and purer — and yon can make 
that step to perfection, short or long, according to your 
exertions when that commotion commences. When it 
commences? It has already commenced. Be ready to 
collect all the scattered thought you can find, and show it 
where to go. Hold up before the eyes of men the light of 
Heaven ; tell them that a new dispensation is now being 
made upon this earth — a new revelation is coming from 
Heaven — that it teaches you this, that the whole duty of 
man is to. love his fellow-man. Make them believe it, too. 
Make them believe that you have authority for saying this ; 
that angel-voices have come to you and told you this truth ; 
and have told you further, that their office in Heaven con- 
sists in doing good to their fellows. There is something in 
the soul of every man which will make him hear and un- 
derstand your words. And although you think you are 
making no impression, believe that your words will not be 
lost ; although the greater part of his spirit may be barren, 
yet there is in every man one little spot of good soil, and 
the seed will spring up there and bear fruit, just so sure as 
the seed is planted. 

My friends, take courage. Could you look into the 
spirits of men as we can, you would see the divinity ot 
each man's soul ; and it would make you glad ; it would 
make you have hope in a hereafter ; you would see man to 
be an image of his Creator. 

Believe, my friends, that change is coming. Work all 
the time — in your business, and in your pleasure — and look 
forward to find out what the change is ; and if it be wrong 
in any one man, make it right by telling him the truth. 



494 APPENDIX. 



J^pnfci*— $. 



Since the Introduction to this volume was in type, a friend has called my 
attention to an article in No. 43, November, 1854, of " The North British 
Review" from which I make the following extract : 

7. Table-turning and Table-talking. — Those who be- 
lieved in the rotation and oscillation of rings and pendu- 
lums could not fail to believe that the same influence might 
turn tables ; and had the pretensions of the table- turners 
gone no further, the experiment might, like the shilling 
striking the hour, have long remained as an amusement for 
the nursery and the drawing-room. But when, under their 
influence, the tables obeyed their will and commands, lift- 
ing up their legs, and striking the age of any of the opera- 
tors ; discovering things that were hid or lost, by moving 
to the spot where they were to be found ; pretending to be 
the result of Satanic agency, " disclosing,' 5 according to the 
Bev. E. Gillon, "Satanic wonders and prophetic signs," 
moving with all other books but the Bible, which instantly 
stopped them, and bringing messages from heaven and hell 
to gratify the morbid curiosity of the credulous, it was time 
that science should rush into the magic circle, and exorcise 
the demon that had usurped it. 

That the hands of the table-movers acted upon it mechan- 
ically, and in the direction of the motion, was proved by 
an exhibition, which we witnessed, that when the hands of 
even a professional table-mover, Mrs. Hay den, were smeared 
with oil, the table could not be put in motion. The same 
truth was established by repeated experiments, in which 
tables could not be moved when the operators were careful 
to prevent their hands from doing any thing more than 
simply resting upon their surface ; but it was placed be- 



APPENDIX. 495 

yond a doubt by the experiment of Mr. Faraday,* who 
proved that whenever a table was turned, the hands of its 
movers exerted upon it a force in the direction of its 
motion. 

"When table-turners make the experiment honestly, which 
we believe is often done, they involuntarily exercise a mus- 
cular force under the influence of the same principle which 
guides the finger of the operator when placed upon the 
magnetoscope. 

It is with difficulty we can bring ourselves to notice the 
extravagance of those who maintain that tables have moved 
at the will of an individual seated at a distance from them ; 
that hats can be lifted up by the attractive power of hands 
not in contact with them, and that the human hand can 
impart to any object which it grasps such an attractive 
influence for all other objects of the same material, of the 
same nature, or the same form, that it will lead or draw its 
possessor to such objects, even when they are concealed 
from his view. 

8. Spieit-eapping and Spieit-weitino. — Among the moral 
epidemics of the day, none is more remarkable than that 
of spirit-rapping — an importation from the United States, 
where it has for some time been raging with a fatal influ- 
ence, gratifying with lying intelligence the prurient curi- 
osity of fools, and driving into bedlam the half insane, who 
have received distressing news from the world of spirits. 
In order to get information from the spiritual world there 
must be a medium of communication, and this office is 
assumed generally by some artful or presumptuous female, 
who feels herself qualified for the task. At the beginning 
of 1853 there were no fewer than 700 mediums in the town 
of Cleveland, and 1,200 in that of Cincinnati. In 1853, 
Mrs. Hayden, an American lady of great sagacity and pen- 
etration, exhibited in London her powers as a medium. 
When she was seated at a little distance from a table upon 
which there was placed an alp habet, the victim of curiosity 

* AthencBum, 1853. P. 801. 



496 APPENDIX. 

put certain questions to her mentally, which a departed 
spirit was to answer. This answer was communicated by 
raps upon the table, while the finger of the victim passed 
over the alphabet. If the answer, for example, was yes, 
a rap was heard when the finger came to y, which was 
written down. The finger again ran over the alphabet, and 
raps were successively heard when it reached e and s.* 
The same process was followed when the answer was no, or 
a complete sentence. Many remarkable answers were thus 
obtained by several persons of character and intelligence, 
which at first produced a great sensation. When we sub- 
mitted to the operation, however, it was an entire failure. 
Mrs. Hayden's success consisted in observing some pause 
in the finger when it reached the proper letters, or some 
act or movement of the victim when these letters w r ere 
touched. "When the experiment was made by persons who 
paused on other letters than those which formed the right 
answer, Mrs. Hayden always failed. 

Some interest has been attached to the discovery of the 
process by which the rap was produced. As everybody 
expected it from the table, it always appeared to come from 
it, on that principle of ventriloquism according to which a 
sound made in one place may be heard as if it came from 
another to which the attention is directed. It was believed 
in America that tables were made on purpose, but as Mrs. 
Hayden held her seances in private houses, a table of a par- 
ticular construction was not required. The process, how- 
ever, which is a very curious one, has been recently discov- 
ered and explained by Dr. Schiff, of Frankfort-upon-Maine. 
He had noticed that the rap proceeded from the body of a 
young girl, who was performing the part of a medium, and 
he succeeded in demonstrating experimentally that a simi- 
lar noise could be produced by the repeated displacement 



* In 1848, when this mania began in America, in the house of a Methodist 
family of the name of Fox, the letters of the alphabet were pronounced by the 
person who wanted information. 



APPENDIX. 497 

of the tendon of the peroneus longus muscle in the sheath 
in which it slides in passing behind the external maleolus. 
Dr. Schiff, indeed, succeeded in producing upon himself 
the very same sound which he had heard from the spirit- 
rapper. When the fibrous sheath in which the tendon of 
the peroneus longus slides is feeble or relaxed, the sound is 
more easily produced ; and Dr. Schiff has shown that the 
sound may be made without any appreciable motion in the 
foot. When the little toe presses upon the external maleo- 
lus, where the noise is produced, the alternating and re- 
peated displacement of the tendon having a very brisk 
motion of ascent and descent, is very distinctly felt. After 
Dr. Schiff 's memoir had been read at the Academy of Sci- 
ences, he made the experiment at the request of the mem- 
bers, and the sound was distinctly heard at the distance of 
several yards, without any motion being observed in the 
feet* 

Akin to spirit-rapping is the still stranger practice of 
spirit-writing. A medium, anxious for information from 
the spiritual world, sits down with a pen in hand, and 
thinks intensely upon some departed spirit from whom he 
wishes instruction, or advice, or consolation. His pen then 
records on the paper, by an involuntary effort, the desired 
intelligence, which, as we have been informed by those 
whom we have seen practice the art, is often unintelligible, 
and sometimes ill-spelled and bad grammar. In this case, 
certainly, when a suitable dispatch is in this way recorded, 
the expectant attention must have guided the recording 
pen. 

I have introduced this extract for the amusement of the thousands and thou- 
sands of Spiritualists in the United States, who will see at a glance the igno- 
rance and folly, not to say the superstition and bigotry, which characterize it 
throughout. Why, the veriest tyro in " Spiritual Manifestations" in this 
country would laugh to scorn such gross stupidity. The learned editor has 
not advanced one step beyond the " toe and knee-joint" theory of the Buffalo 
doctors, which has long since covered its authors with ridicule and shame ; nor 

* Comptes Rendus, etc., vol. xxxviii., pp. 1063, 1064. 
23 



498 APPENDIX. 

has he equaled by his peroneus longus and external maleolus, the brilliant 
discovery by Professor Page, of the working of machinery over the " right 
hypogastric region" of the medium, and under the protection of her dress ! 
When will such ignorance and folly have an end 



The following is a part of a discourse by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, 
on the "prevailing orthodoxies." It was taken down by a reporter at the 
time of its delivery, and published in the newspapers of the day. It has a 
strong bearing on the view which I have taken of sectarianism, and is too 
good to be lost in the mere ephemeral existence of a newspaper. I therefore 
insert it here, by way of preserving it in a more tangible and permanent 
form. 

Ijst fact, the orthodox sects are a vast compound thresh- 
ing-machine, flailing away at each other as if the chief end 
of man was to thresh his neighbors. I have never yet 
seen an acknowledged orthodox man. Every body is or- 
thodox as compared with those above him ; and orthodox 
reputations, like country bank-bills, circulate only in a 
narrow circle, very near home. If one is orthodox in 
Hartford, he is a heretic in ISTew Eaven ; if he is sound at 
!N~ew Haven, he is too loose at Andover ; if he is fortunate 
enough to rank high at Andover, then he is hopelessly 
below at East Windsor ; if he climbs up the toilsome cliffs 
to the eyrie of East Windsor, it is only to bring himself 
within reach of the Princeton orthodoxy; and when yet 
climbing up out of sight of all sublunary things, he sits 
down on those principles of Old School Presbyterian 
Princeton orthodoxy, and divides his time between Tur- 
retin and efforts at breathing on such thin-aired august 
heights, then down comes the good old-fashioned Scotch 
Presbyterian orthodoxy, carrying him away at one swoop 
to be devoured in a yet higher eagle's nest. In fact, it is a 
very hard thing to be orthodox. It is a thing of degrees — 



APPENDIX., 499 

it is a question of the scale ; and, beginning at zero, all 
the degrees above pelt all the degrees below. Now if a 
preacher is heterodox, he is but suspected, and sham- 
pooed, and flailed, and he gets that if he is orthodox. 



The following correspondence has been shown me by Judge Edmonds : 

Washington, Jan. 2,0th, 1854. 

Dear Sir — I received by the last steamer a letter from 
Lord Brougham, which it seems to be his wish should be 
communicated to you. 

I accordingly inclose you a copy, and I remain respect- 
fully yours, Edward Everett. 

Judge Edmonds. 



Cannes, Bee. 22, 1853. 

My Dear Mr. E. — Will you excuse me if I give you a 
little trouble ? A friend in England^ on whose accuracy 
I can rely — not having myself seen the work — informs me 
that Judge Edmonds has mentioned me among those whom 
he gives as believers in what are called the "Spiritual 
Manifestations," and I am desirous that he should be set 
right, as some one has misinformed him on the subject. 
There is not the least foundation for the statement. From 
all I have heard of the Judge, I have great respect for 
his learning, his abilities, and his character ; but not hav- 
ing the honor of his acquaintance, I must beg of you to 
set him right for me. I have no title to pronounce any 
opinion upon the point in dispute, but only to state the 
fact that I am not among those who have given, or who 
have formed an opinion in the affirmative. 
Believe me, sincerely yours, 

[Signed] H- Brougham. 



500 APPENDIX. 

New York, Jan. 28, 1854. 

Hon. E. Everett, U. S Senate : 

Sir — I do not at all know to what Lord Brougham al- 
ludes, for I am not conscious that his name is anywhere 
mentioned in my book, nor could I permit myself to use 
any gentleman's name, in the manner he supposes I have 
have used it, without his consent. 

Still, as the book is the work of several hands, and oth- 
ers besides myself examined the proof, it may be that his 
name has crept in without my knowing it. 

I have not had time since the receipt of your note to read 
the book to see if I can find his name, nor shall I have time 
for several weeks to come. I will, however, avail myself of 
my earliest leisure for that purpose, and if I find it, I will 
hasten to make the amende honorable, and protect him as far 
as lies in my power from the disastrous consequences of his 
being identified against his will with a cause which is un- 
popular only with those who refuse to examine it. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. W. Edmonds. 

It would seem that I have been the innocent cause of introducing Lord 
Brougham's name into the Appendix of Judge Edmonds' and Dr. Dexter's 
book, entitled " Spiritualism," and which has called forth the above corre- 
spondence I take the earliest opportunity and most effectual mode in my 
power to correct the error, and to explain the manner in which I was led into it. 

I had seen it stated in the public newspapers, that Lord Brougham, and Dr. 
Ashburner, and other eminent men abroad, had become believers in the " Spir- 
itual Manifestations ;" and in reply to D. R. Hundley, through the columns 
of the National Intelligencer, I used the following language : 

I would here close what I intended to say, were it not 
for the extraneous, inappropriate, and undignified matter 
which occupies a very considerable portion of your corre- 
spondent's communication. He has fallen into the same 
error with many others, who seem to fancy that Spiritual- 
ism is to be put down and annihilated by harsh language, 
gross denunciations, and low and vulgar epithets. Your 
correspondent may plead the example of others before he 
plumed his pen for such a contest. But let him be assured, 



APPENDIX. 501 

that neither he nor those who have preceded him will 
accomplish their object by such a course. This matter 
is to be contested on the field of fair argument and gen- 
tlemanly discussion. The language of your correspondent 
is not suited to the occasion nor to the subject. It is 
too late in the day to attempt by such means to stifle 
investigation. Neither the denunciations from the press 
nor the anathemas from the pulpit can stop it, notwith- 
standing the self-sufficiency of the one and the self-compla- 
cency of the other. Much less can it be arrested in its 
onward march by the kind of warfare introduced by your 
correspondent. In this land of civil liberty and religious 
freedom, men will think and act for themselves. 

Admitting all that your correspondent has said of Yon 
Reichenbach's newly-discovered force, backed as it is by 
other high authority, still that does not impugn the theory 
that those manifestations are from a spiritual source, and 
this new force the means of conveying it to us. The repu- 
tation of these philosophers required no defense at his 
hands, much less such a defense as he has attempted. It 
was therefore as undignified as it was improper and unnec- 
essary to characterize the spiritual theory as " the whims 
and maudlin fancies of aged grandmothers, or the flippant 
vagaries of youthful patrons of the band-box and worship- 
ers of lace and ribbons," and its advocates as the " weak- 
minded excuses for manhood," with " an ass's appendages 
to their heads." * 

I will not stop to inquire who is the denunciator in this 
case ; your readers will judge for themselves. But I may 
be permitted to ask, who are those to whom this dignified 
and gentlemanly language is applied ? Why, they are 
those who have had the independence and moral courage 
to investigate this subject — some of the brightest intellects 
in the country, the ablest to investigate, and the last to be 
carried away with a delusion. Such are the men brought 
within the category of this writer. And what is the sub- 
ject which he deems so utterly unworthy of investigation ? 



502 APPENDIX. 

It is the greatest phenomenon of this or any preceding 
age. It has spread throughout this country, and thou- 
sands of mediums are being developed in every direction. 
It is now spreading in Europe. Recent accounts inform 
us that Lord Brougham and Dr. Ashburner, of England, 
and others of the highest rank and intellect, have become 
converts to it, and that it has engaged the earnest atten- 
tion of the most eminent German philosophers. And when 
we hear of such "aged grandmothers," such "youthful 
patrons of the band-box and worshipers of lace and rib- 
bons," and such " weak-minded excuses for manhood," 
with "an ass's appendages to their heads," as Lord 
Brougham and Dr. Ashburner, of England, and Judge 
Edmonds, and others of the highest order of intellect in 
this country, becoming converts to it, we are gravely 
called upon to listen to the dignified, elevated, and gentle- 
manly appeals of your correspondent and others on this 
side of the Atlantic, who denounce it as unworthy of inves- 
tigation ! 

For the high character and the great and varied learning of Lord Brougham 
I have always entertained the most profound respect ; and I was pleased with 
the opportunity of adding his name to the list of the believers in " Spiritual- 
ism," which I felt authorized to do, from seeing it so stated by the public press. 
It seems, however, that this is an additional evidence that newspapers are not 
always to be relied on ! My regret, therefore, is two-fold. First, that I should 
have unwittingly introduced his lordship's name in connection with "Spirit- 
ualism." Secondly, that he, like his distinguished correspondent, the Hon. 
Edward Everett, should not have investigated the subject, so as to enable 
me to avail myself of names so eminent in support of a great truth, which, 
if not made plain to them here, will be presented with most palpable distinct- 
ness hereafter. 



APPENDIX. 503 



$ppttin*— f 



The following letter, published in the Spiritual Telegraph, embodies a com- 
munication from Shakspeare to Mr. Fenno and myself, through Mr. Linton. 
Mr. Fenno is one of the most distinguished of American actors, and none more 
capable of judging of the peculiar style and characteristics of the great En- 
glish dramatist. I give this communication as another specimen of a writing 
medium. It was written, page after page, with great rapidity, and not a word 
interlined or erased throughout the whole. The most accomplished scholar, 
with the utmost deliberation, can not write so perfect a critique upon the stage 
and upon acting. I have submitted the communication to some of the ablest 
critics, and they pronounce it perfectly Shakspearian, and that no spirit in or 
out of the body, except the spirit of Shakspeare, could have written it. 

SHAKSPEARE ON ACTING. 

The following letter from an esteemed correspondent will be read with un- 
usual interest, and we are certainly obliged to Mr. Fenno for communicating 
to the Telegraph the remarkable spiritual communication which it contains. 
Those who know aught of the humble pretensions of Mr. Linton, and have read 
so much as a single page from the inspired utterances of the great philosophic 
poet, will not readily question its claims to a spiritual origin. — Ed. 

Baltimore, January 20, 1855. 

Dear Brittan : 

I need not tell you with what pleasurable anticipation I 
look forward to the publication of "The Healing of the 
Nations." Like yourself, when last year in Washington, I 
enjoyed the acquaintance and genial society of Governor 
Tallmadge, and had the opportunity of hearing portions of 
that volume read, and witnessing the extraordinary correct- 
ness and beauty of the MS, which was almost a miracle in 
itself. Of Mr. Linton's candor, honesty, and truthfulness I 
could bear evidence were it needed. Of the book itself it 
is unnecessary for me to speak, further than to state my 
profound admiration of its various beauties, and my deep 
conviction of its spiritual origin ; and if I am not deceived 
in my views, it will impress more minds and awaken a 



504 APPENDIX. 

wider interest than any volume on this subject that has 
been given- to the world. 

But there is a little incident connected with Mr. Tall- 
madge, Mr. Linton, and myself, which may not prove un- 
interesting to your readers, as it will serve to illustrate the 
peculiar ease, facility, and beauty with w T hich the exalted 
spirit- authors influenced and controlled Mr. Linton. 

One morning, as we sat in conversation at Mr. Tallmadge's 
rooms, Mr. L. was reposing on the sofa ; Mr. T. had been 
reading me several beautiful extracts from the volume in 
reference to the arts of Sculpture and Painting, when I re- 
. marked, I wondered the spirit-authors had not touched upon 
the stage, as connected with, if not one of, the fine arts. 
Mr. Tallmadge observed : a The volume is not yet finished, 
and they may yet write upon that subject." Mr. Linton 
said : "I feel an inclination to write," and approached the 
table ; his hand was immediately influenced, and the fol- 
lowing was written through him, in answer to questions 
suggested by Mr. Tallmadge and myself. It purported to 
emanate from S/iakspeare. In ail communications I have 
received from spiritual sources. I have endeavored to judge 
" the tree by the fruit," to " examine all things, and hold 
fast that which was good." How far what I send you will 
stand this test, I leave to the judgment of your readers, 
and their knowledge of the immortal bard. 

Mr. Linton first traced what resembled a human eye and 
a human brain, which he pronounced to be so ; and imme- 
diately was written, very quietly, without the least discom- 
posure of the medium : 

To act requireth two things— a brain and an eye ; the scene will do almost 
all the rest. 

The eye calleth up and holdeth* the magic spell, which in the audience 
centers. 

Thy brain the gestures makes— the stand, the position; and grace doth take 
therefrom its own existence. 

The eye speaks volumes ; silly mouthers may mince and mawk, but with thy 
piercing eye thou'lt dumb them all. 



* The italic marks are the spirit's own. 



APPENDIX. 505 

The pantomimic eye will act a tragedy better than a thousand yelling voices. 

Thou may'st stand majestically, thou may"st even speak well, and in svery 
action proclaim the will and sentiment of that which thou art imitating, hut 
death is there, if the eye's fierce light doth not illuminate the hating passion. 

The eye, the eye, without it man were blind, and play could ne'er be acting. 

The brain may study well, and fix upon the best place on the stage to stand 
to act ; but when the assassin's eye gleams out, all fixed positions are instantly 



I observed to Mr. Tallmadge, though many talented men 
studied for the stage, but few succeeded. At once it was 
written : 

He that studies well learns well, but can not therefore live out that study 
o'er again on planks. 

If ye act, forget that which hath been done, and do as none save thee can do. 

When thou art a ghost, be a ghost indeed, and not a pole in a shroud 
incased. 

When a lover, love ; when a hater, hate ; but to express these opposites re- 
quireth in the one the maiden's eye, in the other the rage of the tiger's glance. 

The same eye must do all ; thy gestures, if thou didst love with a hating 
eye, would be fighting ; if thou didst hate, they would in thy mild eye seem a 
burlesque. 

The glance of fire thrills through an audience like unto the lightning's flash, 
and the thunders of applause must follow. 

He who courts applause must ne'er think of it ; if he do, the empty seats 
will greet ere long his empty vision. 

To act requireth two things, an eye and a brain. 

Now the brain feels, and the eye expresses it. 

I asked the spirit if he had the power of witnessing act- 
ing, and if he had seen me act, and what he thought of me. 

You play well, you excel ; were there more judges, you would shine. 
But it is a humiliating truth that the good judges of good actors generally 
get disgusted with the mouthers and blusterers, and cut the stage entirely. 

I told " cher Willie" I was aware I had very many glar- 
ing faults, but that I would weigh well his words and strive 
to improve. 

Now do this to please me. You feel the spirit of my plays, and you will look 
them to the satisfaction of all. 

To act to be appreciated, forget that you are acting. You can stab a man 
with a glaring eye and a walking-stick more effectually, and get more applause 
from the audience, than if you killed him without telling of it by fierceness 
within you through your eye revealed ; and you can wither a man with con- 
tempt without speaking. 



APPENDIX. 

I asked him if he had ever seen me play Mercutio or 
Benedict, and what he thought of comedy generally. 

In comedy, if you shake your sides and jolt your voice, don't expect to make 
tho audience think you are laughing. The eye laughs, and without its help 
all mirth is dull and drowsy. 

To laugh rightly is difficult ; you must burst out, as though you were having 
the keenest sport, and could not contain it all within you ; and as you go on, 
unheeding the audience, soon your startled ear will be greeted with their sym- 
pathizing lungs and throats vibrating in unison. 

I said I preferred to play tragedy to comedy, as by it a 
loftier and mure enduring reputation was obtained. 

Take tragedy by all means, for that you can master, because you like it 
. best. 

If you do not feel, you can not act, I care not what 'tis called. 

'Tis the feeling catches hold of all the spirits near you ; and you know the 
eye is the mirror of the feeling. 

The reason is this. There are no judges of good tragedy — all being either 
hung or locked safely beyond the reach of your voice. 

Again, the human mind requireth an exciting stimulant to raise its lazy 
feelings. A terrible passion awes them, and as the awe subsides, they admire 
the one who so wrought upon them. 

Here, in answer to some question, it was written : 

Yes, yes, yes— laugh if you can. But it is much easier for an audience to 
laugh, than an actor who has tired himself with laborious jokes and wit 
learned by rote. 

On the other hand, your very disgust of the laborious part of your acting 
maketh you to hate ; and if nothing else offers, you hate the trouble of learn- 
ing to hate rightly. 

I then asked whether I had better have studied exclu- 
sively my profession, instead of devoting much of my time 
to phrenology, mesmerism, psychology, and kindred sci- 
ences. Answer : 

If you desire to act well, always have a character to fit you ; and to do this 
you must strive to comprehend your own powers : now, whatever enlarges your 
comprehension of man, must enlarge your ideas of all connected with him, 
and you can thus learn from effects outside, to cause the effects you desire ; 
hence all study must be better understood than merely harped upon. 

I then spoke of the management of the voice, and the 
difficulty of being energetic without "o'er-doing Terma- 
gant." Tt was instantly written : 

The ocean waves rise and fall ; the mountains wave in earthly strength ; 



APPENDIX. 507 

the plains undulate in airy waves ; and the light, the life of all things, par- 
takes of the inmost principles producing these outside results ; hence, to speak 
well and gracefully, you must not beat the sea flat with a hurricane, or with 
an earthquake rend the mountains, or tear the plain into a level void ; but 
imitate the waves of the ocean, rise from a dead calm to grand sublimity, and 
subside again with the gentle ease of the mighty fluid. You will catch the 
breeze gently, and a lovely strain will vibrate through your throat; your 
spirit catches the tone and in unison vibrates. Onward and upward you rush, 
and as the waves rise in grandeur, the bark of opposition is handled as the 
boundless ocean handles the unmoored vessel. 

Simply imitating nature's pure originality, ever bringeth unto the honest 
seeker immortality. 

Thanking " Willie" for his sensible and kind advice, I 
expressed my regrets at the degradation of the modern 
stage, and stated one fruitful cause of the low estimation 
it was held in by many intellectual persons, was the num- 
ber of immoral, illiterate, vulgar people who had thrust 
themselves upon it, with no higher motive than to gain a 
bare subsistence. The medium's hand traced a series of 
lines resembling a web, and in it was written : 

The mazy web of the stage hath caught many a silly fly. 

I observed the great fault of modern actors was a want 
of self-reliance and a tendency to imitation. 

Beware of imitation ; the grave of all actors who fall hath been marked by 
a stone upon which is written but one word, and that is " Imitation." 

Shakspeare. 

I then spoke of the variety of ways in which his name 
had been written, and requested him to sign it as he had 
been accustomed during his earthly career. It was given : 

Shakspear. 

Now every reader will pronounce judgment on this com- 
munication as the force of the evidence operates on his 
own mind ; the skeptical or the positive unbeliever will 
have but a sneer at my egotism and conceit that "Shak- 
speare" would come to me and answer questions about 
myself, and probably suggest that I had better get the 
indorsement of my acting from intelligent spirits in the 
body, than seeking the approbation of one who left it some 



508 APPENDIX. 

two hundred years ago, and even quote Shakspeare him- 
self to prove he could not return — 

Who would fardels bear, 
To groan and sweat under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death — 
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveler returns, puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather hear the ills we have, 
Than fly to others that we know not of; 

forgetting as Hamlet did his interview with his father's 
spirit, who had by his presence proved to him that travelers 
did return. But with Spiritualists no argument is neces- 
sary. The circle was harmonious, and the laws of sym- 
pathy and affinity are invariable and eternal ; and without 
arrogating to myself any superior qualities of mind, Shak- 
speare himself, if on earth, might pass an hour with Gov- 
ernor Tallmadge not unprofitably ; and if spirits retain 
their earthly dispositions in a more perfect and beautiful 
development, all who know Shakspeare's works see in them 
evidence of the most kindly, genial nature, ever clothed in 
the human form. For of all the poets I have ever known, 
no one has impressed upon his works a broader, nobler, 
heartier, or more world-embracing humanity than the 
" Sweet Swan of Avon." 

But I will not occupy too much of your valuable space, 
but will only say, Mr. Linton's knowledge of the stage and 
all that pertains to it is extremely limited, he assuring me 
that he has but seldom been within the walls of a theater, 
and had never bestowed a moment's reflection on acting as 
an art. 

Take this communication as a mere literary curiosity, it 
is worthy attention. Compare it to Hamlet's " Advice to 
the Players :" 

Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus ; but use all gently, 
for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of your pas- 
sion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that will give it smoothness. 
Oh ! it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, periwig-pated fellow tear a 
passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings. 



APPENDIX. 509 

You will see the same idea expressed in language deci- 
dedly Shakspearian : 

Thine eye speaks volumes ; silly mouthers may mince and mawk, but with 
thy piercing eye thou'lt dumb them all. 

The pantomimic eye will act a tragedy better than a thousand yelling 
voices." 

You will observe lie uses dumb as a verb ; though to 
dumb is an active verb, dumb is an adjective, and Shaks- 
peare always put grammar aside when he chose to make 
an expressive phrase, as in u Julius Caesar :" 

This was the most nnkindest cut of all, 

making a superlative, superlative ; but Lindley Murray's 
spirit will forgive him when he considers how strong and 
expressive the line is made. 

Now, to suppose that Mr. Iiinton was able to answer our 
suggestions so aptly without a moment's reflection, is giv- 
ing qualities to the human mind that few possess ; granting 
that a practiced writer, familiar with his subject, might do 
this, yet Mr. Linton assured me that he used no mental 
power in giving this communication, and my knowledge 
of him is such that I can fully believe it; but whether 
these answers emanated from Shakspeare or not, they 
evince a profound knowledge of acting, and at least came 
from some intelligence beyond ourselves. 

I am but too happy to believe that they did come from 
Shakspeare's spirit ; and as I have made his writings the 
study of my life, and as they are " not for a day, but for 
all time," so can I readily believe thqt his great spirit is 
now on its onward march in eternal progression ; and 
though I may ne'er reach his high plane of being, he can 
come to me, for a Greater and Purer Spirit hath said : 
" When ye assemble in my name, I am with you." 

Yours truly, A. W. Fenno. 



510 APPENDIX. 



&BBMt&is 



The following is taken from the Appendix of Judge Edmonds' and Dr. Dex- 
ter's " Spiritualism," and contains tlie communications from Webster •which 
the Rev. Br. Butler had not the capacity to comprehend. After reading them 
in connection with the subject of " Light" as treated in the " Healing of the 
Nations," there will be no difficulty in appreciating the beauty of style, or 
comprehending the sublimity of thought that pervades the whole : 

New York, May 6th, 1853. 
Hon. John W. Edmonds : 

My dear Sir — I cheerfully comply with your request for copies of com- 
munications received by me, purporting to come from Daniel Webster. 
They were received at Washington in January last, through a writing me- 
dium from Philadelphia. 

The medium is a young man of fair natural capacity, of very limited edu- 
cation, and by trade a blacksmith. He writes with wonderful rapidity, and 
never mistakes or misspells a word, and never has occasion to correct a single 
word, although he may have written hour after hour without intermission. 
He writes with a pen in a bound blank-book ; and the communications thus 
written are as perfect as the most skillful and expert copyist could have re- 
corded them. His handwriting, as a medium, is as different from his ordinary 
handwriting as night from day. 

You will perceive from the character of the communications that they are 
infinitely beyond the capacity of the medium, and even beyond the concep- 
tions of Webster himself while in the body, and could only have emanated 
from his high order of intellect sublimated by a translation from this to an- 
other sphere. 

It was well remarked by a gentleman of the highest order of intellect 
present, after the communications closed, that he had read all the old phi- 
losophers, from Plato down to Bacon, and had never seen any thing equal to 
these communications from Webster. 

The sense in which he speaks of light is illustrated by the following view 
from a late work on this and cognate subjects : 

" That God is the author of spiritual light unto mankind is exhibited from 
many passages of the Scriptures. Thus in Cor. iv. 6 : ' For God, who com- 
manded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined into our hearts to 
give us the light of knowledge.' Again, in Luke ii. 2 : 'A light to lighten the 
Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.' Also in John : ' I am the light 
of the world ; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have 
the light of life' (viii. 12). The prophet Malachi designates the Lord the Sun 
of Righteousness — the orb in which righteousness is originally inherent, in 



APPENDIX. 511 

which he dwells, and from which he shines into mankind. In the same man- 
ner it is also said by David, that the Lord God is a Sun.' 

It is remarkable that these communications arose out of conversations be- 
tween myself and other gentlemen present, and were as unexpected to us as 
they were unpremeditated by the medium. We were conversing about light, 
its effects on the human system, in health and in sickness, when the medium's 
hand was moved to write, and then came the following communication : 

You are all the true disciples of light ; follow on — do not 
fear — as you said, it is the great ingredient in the health 
of the body, and the perfect ligbt of the spirit. It is the 
purity of God's rays shed far and wide, illuminating space, 
and filling it with aspirations that spirits drink and are 
happy. You must keep it far before you as the light of 
him who is the cause of your existence, and the enjoyment 
attached thereunto. 

Then if he hath spread before you this enduring light, 
drink, and it will render your actions as transparent as it- 
self — clear and pure it will become. As seen by others, 
your actions will be like the light that incites them, an 
honor unto you and the Father of the light. Webster. 

While we were commenting on the communication, the medium's hand was 
again moved, and wrote as follows : 

"When we say light, we mean the pure essence of God 
that the sun reflects into your system. It is fraught with 
the life eternal ; is the secret of your happiness and the 
cause of your existence. Kemove it, and the channel of 
communication between you and the Father is cut entirely 
away, and you must cease. 

Chaos is darkness, and only that ; but darkness is not in 
the universe. There is light everywhere that life exists. 
The partial obscuration of light at night is for the resting 
of spirits that are so constituted that they tire the body, 
which by a reaction tires the spirit, and thus they both 
need rest. But there is no place dark, else God is not 
there ; and of this you can not conceive. 

God is the Father of light, and in it are contained all 
the principles that govern the numberless bodies floating 



512 APPENDIX. 

in space. Motion is part of its laws combined. Electricity 
is the handmaid that receives all its instructions from this 
servant of God, light. 

Here a conversation ensued in relation to the communication just received, 
and then came the following : 

The instructions I now receive, you can not comprehend. 
The source of light we can tell, but the cause we must say 
is God alone. There we stop. He alone can create ; and 
he alone knoweth the source from whence he bringeth the 
the subtile essence spoken of. But be content with this, 
that it is as enduring as himself, and as pure. 

Here further comments were made, when' the communication proceeded : 

He is the Creator we love to study, and are still as his 
schoolboys learning our a, b, c's, and will always be. For 
We see continually new fields of this same light growing far 
and farther in space, and still we proceed in the still, silent 
search after the secret of our existence ; and still have to 
say, that God alone is good, and we his happy though ig- 
norant children. Still we are learning, and still shall learn ; 
and as we ascend we see more and more of him. We come 
to earth and see our brother man. "We pause before a 
sweet-scented flower, and listen to its quiet song of praise 
— scent of its sweetness, and return to search for the prin- 
ciples by which its delicate voice is tuned and its sweetness 
regulated — and all is still a happy mystery. Thus it is 
everywhere. 

Here a conversation again ensued, in which the organization of the brain, 
among other things, was spoken of. Then the following communication was 
written out Tby the medium 

The brain of man is filled with organs, each differently 
acted upon with this same life-giving essence, light. And 
it produces the various motions of body and thought mark- 
ing the individuality of man. All are different because of 
the different powers of comprehending light, and accord- 
ing as their organization is allowed to receive it. He who 
would shut his door against the light of day must pale and 
sicken. He who shuts out the light of conscience must 



APPENDIX. 513 

keep his part of God as the diamond in the rough, that can 
not give life unto himself or his fellows. Dress up jour 
own diamonds, and see the brilliant luster they give forth. 
It will greatly enhance your value as men, and give you 
the farther start in your happy future. Remember and 
heed well the light. 

Here again a conversation ensued, and the following communication came, 
as called out by our remarks : 

Yes, that is the right way. The boy that gets an idea 
that he knows more than any other boy, and the master 
too, will never learn fast. 

Remember we spoke of light ; and open windows and 
doors are certainly the best mediums through which it can 
be conveyed to you. Let it be always thus. Ye are but 
boys in the school of knowledge ; but do not be discour- 
aged. You have safely got through the alphabet of letters, 
but the alphabet of principles we have hard work to find ; 
and a great many we can not find aught of but the effect 
produced by their harmonious actions. 

The visible works of nature might be called condensed 
principles, for this, in fact, they are. But One can com- 
prehend the great connection between cause and effect, 
between Himself and the objects he has created. He is 
the cause, all else is effect. The poet was inspired when 
he said — 

" All are "but parts of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body nature is, and God the soul." 

Again there was further conversation, when came the following communi- 
cation : 

If you will keep open, we will give you ideas of life that 
you have not yet received. It is the active part of the light 
we still cling to. And you can as much see it as the light 
that incites it to action. Life is the active principle, and 
light the essence of that principle. "We can extract prin- 
ciple essences as you extract wine from the grape. Put 
some principle under a press, such as life, motion, etc., by 
compressing them we get, or rather let out, the light ; and 

33 



514 APPENDIX. 

it flies away, and we have the hulls of life, motion, etc., 
left to pay us for our trouble. Never destroy the fruit in 
your extracting presses ; for the essence will surely escape, 
and then both fruit and essence are lost unto you. 

Judge R. here made some remarks in his pointed and forcible style, and 
then followed the communication below : 

You who have such correct ideas should not let forms 
trammel them and curb the spirit of their flow. Let them 
forth as you have just done, and angels will say the song 
of your spirit tells of flowers more bright than those com- 
prising the life of the flowers of which we spoke. It sing- 
eth its true song. Now do so as far as thou canst com- 
prehend the truth thereof, and behold the future shall open 
visions of whose pure light thou canst not conceive. Man 
is studying as thou sayest, and has simplified some things. 
But the difficult though pleasant part yet remains. Seek, 
investigate, and thy ideas of God shall swell as the river 
swollen with many rains, and the banks shall be overflow- 
ed, and thy thirsty kind drink of the pure waters freely, 
and bless not only thee, but the former of the principle 
producing the rains that supplied thee. Remember this. 
This is handed down from a very high source. Thou art 
worthy, go on, we love thee. 

After commenting on the beauty and philosophy of Webster's communica- 
tion, Judge R. remarked : 

It is true that principles must have an essence originating principles and 
the cause of them ; and let the communications come from what source they 
may, they come consistent with true philosophy. 

The medium wrote in answer : 

"Wherever is true philosophy, there is an essence of prin- 
ciples and part of God's purity. Then be very careful not 
to reject what you have admitted so much of. 

Judge R. then said : 

My strongest desire to know that spirits exist is to demonstrate that after 
death the spirit retains a consciousness of its own identity. Because if it re- 
turns, as a bare essence, to the sourco from whence it came, it is nothing more 
than the Eraminical doctrine of annihilation. 

The medium wrote in answer. 



APPENDIX. 515 

Your own repugnance to such a belief is the proof of its 

falsity. 

Judge R. then said : 

Nothing on earth is so repugnant to me as the idea of the spirit not existing 
after death. 
The medium then wrote : 

The inner light of your existence makes the repugnance. 
It wars with its opponent darkness. 

Again a further conversation was had in regard to the future existence of 
the spirit, and its identity after death. 
The medium then wrote the following : 

You want proof of the future existence of spirit, and the 
identity of each spirit remaining the same to all eternity. 
Now, sever a flower from its parent stem and try to destroy 
it. Thou wilt find the leaves wither and decay. Thou 
canst pulverize them, but the dust remains as the dead 
body of the lifeless nature. Select the sweetness from the 
atoms composing the flower and try to destroy it; it will 
escape thee and sweeten the air, doing its little mite toward 
rendering all pure on the face of the earth. Then draw 
thy own conclusions. If thou canst not destroy the iden- 
tity of the little flower, how can thy own identity be de- 
stroyed, when it is composed and the recipient of more 
high and holy powers than are used in the construction of 
all else below thee? Then fear not. God is not such a, 
poor workman that aught of his construction ought or can 
be changed. Eemember this; all he doeth is done, and 
naught can undo it. 

Judge It. then went on commenting in his highest and most eloquent strain, 
when the following communication was received. 

A man with a mighty mind ! his spirit seeks the highest 
spheres known, and there revels in the glory of the eternal 
light of God ; returning, his mind burns as a volcano seek- 
ing the outer air, and when the bursting point is reached, 
the lava runs down the side of the green mountain and all 
is scorched and blackened. Then again comes the relapse. 
This is followed by another glorious visit to the spirit- honae,. 



516 APPENDIX. 

and then the circle is entered again and the fire lighted, 
and again all is dark. Oh ! visit those holy places oftener ; 
they do thee good ; and all else that is worthy of being 
good and useful is given thee in these glimpses of the 
purity of heaven bestowed upon thy hungry spirit. Do 
hot burn the body of thy spirit-home ; keep thy brain cool. 
Beinember thou art the image of God's noblest production, 
a combination of things in nature. Go on thy way re- 
joicing; all is well ! We love thee, and will, if thou dost 
open thy door, pour in the continual ilood of living light. 
All is well with thee. 

Again we entered into conversation about the mind, spirit, and passions, 
when we received the following communication : 

The mind is debarred from entering eternity, from the 
fact that the mind is not constituted of principles that are 
a part of eternity. The inhabitant of the mind is the es- 
sence of the mind, and as such endureth forever. 

By the compressing of all these passions you get the har- 
monious spark called spirit, and leave behind all the hulls 
called passions. 

The animal passions are compressed to give you passions 
above them, making your passions as the compressed es- 
sence of theirs. 

Xight is the source of life, motion, chemical affinity, as- 
tronomical calculations, and all else but God. 

Existence is proof of harmony. When you use that word, 
all is said. There is one harmony, one purely harmonious 
God. All else diverge and converge to this point. 

Something was said about the harmonious action of mind, and the medium 
immediately wrote : 

For this reason your minds are governed by harmonious 
principles. 

I then said to Calhoun, My son tells me you teach him many important 
things. Will you give me some idea of what they are ? 
It was immediately answered : 

The knowledge of light as our brother spirit has been 
giving it to you. 



APPENDIX. 517 

I regret extremely that I did not preserve the conversation and remarks 
which called forth the different portions of this communication. They would 
have served to give still more point to the communication itself. But I could 
not recall them. As it is, I consider the whole communication as exhibiting 
the highest order of intellect, and that intellect sublimated by the purity of 
the sphere in which it exists. The style and language 'will be recognized as 
perfectly Websterian, from the pure Saxon English which runs throughout the 
whole of it Very truly yours, 

N. P. Tat.t.mapgz. 



Is my Introduction, I have stated that the writings of the old Fathers of 
the Church, for centuries after the time of Christ and his Apostles, were full of 
these " Spiritual Manifestations." I have thought that the reader would be 
gratified with some of the authorities on which that allegation is founded. I 
therefore insert with pleasure the brief and condensed statement contained 
in the following letter, prepared, at my request, by the Rev. W:vi. Fishbottgh. 
It will forever put to night the unfounded assertion so frequently heard, that 
these " Spiritual Manifestations" ceased with the Apostolic age. 

Hon. N. P. Tallmadge: 

Dear Sir — During a personal interview with yourself, which I 
recently enjoyed, one of the various themes of conversation which 
incidentally came before us was that of Spiritualism as it existed 
in the ancient Christian Church. In opposition to the current 
opinions of religious teachers in almost all existing denominations 
of professing Christians, I remarked, as you will recollect, that 
open and sensible intercourse between mortals and ultramundane 
sources of intelligence, good and bad, and variously called the 
" Holy Spirit," " angels," " spirits," " demons," etc., was recog- 
nized by Christians as an actually and frequently occurring phe- 
nomenon for a long time after the age of the Apostles. In our 
interchange of thought upon this proposition, we both agreed that 
if it could be properly set before the world, accompanied by such 
testimonies as irrefutably establish its truth, it would be eminently 
useful in the uprooting of that tenacious prejudice against the 
reality of the alleged Spiritualism of this day, which rests on the 
strange impression that the portals of the eternal world closed, and 
that all open spiritual communication for ever ceased, with the age 
of the Apostles. It was thought by you that a succinct statement 



518 APPENDIX. 

of such facts and testimonies from the ancient Christian writers as 
would tend to place this question in its true aspect before the pub- 
lic, would form a suitable accompaniment to the Appendix of your 
forthcoming work, " The Healing of the Nations ;" and I now 
cheerfully proceed, in compliance with your request then ex- 
pressed, to embody, in as brief and perspicuous a form as possible, 
the essential results of my investigations in that direction. 

But first a word in reference to the grounds, or rather, as we 
shall see, the groundlessness, of the prevailing impression that all 
intercourse between the denizens of the other world and mortals 
here below, was suspended forever at the close of the Apostolic 
age. I may ask where in all Scripture, in all history, or the induc- 
tive apprehensions of human reason, do we find the semblance of 
a sanction for this hypothesis ? Did prophet, or apostle, or the 
Saviour himself ever intimate any thing of the kind ? Were there 
ever any apprehensions expressed by the first Christians that the 
sensible inflowings of love and wisdom from God and his anguls, 
and the spirits of just men made perfect, were to be permanently 
suspended after the lapse of a few short years ? And when the 
last of the twelve primitive heralds of Jesus was called to his 
heavenly inheritance, were there any funeral moanings — any fast- 
ings in sackcloth and ashes — any sighings and despondings, or 
even any passing and indifferent remarks made among Christians, 
in reference to the sudden and total extinction of that sensibly 
operative Divine spirit and power which constituted the only vital- 
ity and glory of the early Church ? In the absence of any evidence 
to the contrary, we are obliged to rest in the negative answer to 
these several questions ; and I may add, that it seems extremely 
difficult to conceive why spiritual intercourse, after being once 
established, should ever be suspended, unless by those moral defec- 
tions and sensual corruptions of mankind which render them unfit 
for communion with heaven 

It would, perhaps, be well here to bestow a passing notice upon 
the only passages of Scripture which to my knowledge have been 
quoted in favor of the hypothesis here combated. The first of 
these is that in the parable wherein is recorded the refusal to send 
Lazarus back from Paradise to earth, to testify to the five brethren 
of the rich man lest they also should come to that place of torment 
(Luke xvi. 27-31) ; the second is the declaration of the Saviour 



APPENDIX. 519 

on the cross, " It is finished" (John xix. 30) ; and the third is the 
prohibition of St. John concerning the adding to or taking from the 
prophecies of the Book of Revelation (Rev. xxii. 18, 19). The 
first passage, if it is susceptible of any other than a parabolic in- 
terpretation, simply proves that one particular spirit was not, on 
one occasion, permitted to return to earth for a certain specified 
purpose ; the second simply proves that the sufferings of Christ in 
his humanity were completed at the moment the words were 
uttered ; and the third proves only that the Apocalypse of St. John 
was not to be corrupted, either in its literal records or its interior 
significance. By no process of verbal torturing, however, do I 
conceive it possible to press out from these passages a testimony 
which makes against the post-apostolic continuance of spiritual in- 
tercourse ; and the very fact that the opposers of this idea have 
been able to produce no passages which better subserve their pur- 
pose, has a significance which I think will readily be apprehended 
by most minds. 

But now per contra. You will observe that all the promises of 
Jesus for the bestowment of the gifts of the Spirit upon his disci- 
ples as the reward of faithfulness, are given without limitation to 
any particular age. His instructions were, " Ask, and ye shall 
receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you ;" and he declared that the heavenly Father would be- 
stow the gift of the Holy Spirit upon those who truly and sincerely 
asked him. He thus obviously intimated that whenever or in what- 
ever age of the world these conditions were complied with, the 
gifts should follow. The Saviour also expressly promised to 
" come unto," and " manifest" himself to, his faithful followers, and 
be with them : ' always, even unto the end of the world" (age or 
dispensation). Moreover, St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews 
(chap, xii.), impliedly declares it to be one of the special offices 
of Christianity to bring its devoted followers into communion with 
an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men 
made perfect, and to God the judge of all ; and in the absence of 
any declarations to the contrary, it may be justly taken for granted 
that the privilege of these celestial communings was to be con- 
tinued to the faithful so long as Christianity itself continued in a 
state sufficiently pure to perform its appropriate functions. 

So much for the prophetic and moral evidences of the Gospel; 



520 APPENDIX. 

let us now look at our subject in an historical light. It is certain 
that in the Apostolic age there were many who enjoyed the gifts of 
the Spirit besides the Apostles themselves ; for it may be learned 
from the Acts of the Apostles that wherever converts were made 
by the preaching of the Gospel, and the hands of the disciples 
were laid upon them, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and 
some of them began to prophesy, some to speak in diverse tongues, 
some to interpret, some to perform miracles, etc. In the 12th and 
14th chapters of 1 Corinthians, and the 4th chapter of Ephesians, 
St. Paul enumerates and classifies these various spiritual gifts, and 
their relative uses and functions in the economy of a true Chris- 
tian church. These prophets, evangelists, teachers, workers of 
miracles, speakers of diverse tongues, interpreters of tongues, etc., 
were multiplied more or less throughout the civilized world, wher- 
ever the Gospel was preached. Now our own reason would seem 
to teach that some of these multitudinous spiritual persons or 
" mediums" must have lived until after the Apostles had left the bod- 
ily form, and that the spiritual gifts propagated by them must have 
continued in the Church even after they had all left the earth ; 
and we should not adopt an opposite conclusion without at least 
some express historical declaration on which to base it, and which 
we have already intimated does not exist. 

But in addition to this argument a priori, we have the direct 
testimony of the learned and orthodox Dr. John Lawrence 
Mosheim, whose ecclesiastical history is regarded as a standard 
work by all Protestant Christians. In giving the history of the 
Church in the second century, he says : " It is easier to conceive 
than to express how much the miraculous powers and the extraor- 
dinary divine gifts which the Christians exercised on various oc- 
casions, contributed to extend the limits of the Church. The gift 
of foreign tongues seems to have gradually ceased as soon as 
many nations became enlightened with the truth, and numerous 
churches of Christians were everywhere established, for it became 
less necessary than it was at first. But the other gifts with which 
God favored the rising Church of Christ were, as we learn from 
numerous testimonies of the ancients, still conferred upon particu- 
lar persons here and there.* Mosheim elsewhere speaks to the 

Mos. Eccl. Hist., B. I., Cent, n., part I., chap i„ § 8. 



APPENDIX. 521 

same effect, and Eusebius, passim, is, if possible, still more definite 
upon the same subject. 

To show that such a thing as a cessation of spiritual gifts and 
open spiritual communion was probably not even thought of for a 
long time after the Apostolic age, I will solicit your attention for a 
moment to the writings of St. Barnabas, St. Clement, St. Ignatius, 
St. Polycarp, and St. Hermas, who, being cotemporarie and im- 
mediate successors of the Apostles, are hence called " Apostolic 
Fathers." The General Epistle of St. Barnabas, composed proba- 
bly about the close of the Apostolic age, and devoted mainly to an 
explanation of the symbols and prophecies of the Word, is written 
in the same general tone and spirit which characterizes the epis- 
tles of Paul, Peter, and John. The same may be said of the two 
epistles of St. Clement to the Corinthians, whose author it is said 
was a disciple of St. Peter, and afterward bishop of Rome. 

St. Ignatius was an immediate disciple and personal associate 
of the beloved St. John, and was by the latter appointed bishop of 
Antioch. Of his writings there are extant several epistles addressed 
respectively to the Ephesians, Magnesians,Trallians, Romans, Phil- 
adelphians, Smyrnseans, and to Polycarp. Several of them were 
composed just before his martyrdom, and in full prospect of that 
event, which happened in the year 106, or, as some authorities 
have it, in the year 117. They are written in a most pure and 
loving spirit, and everywhere seem to take an existing inspiration 
for granted, the author claiming the same for himself, as will be 
seen particularly from his Epistle to the Philadelphians, chap, 
ii. 11-15, where he incidentally refers to an instance in which the 
Spirit came upon him, causing him to speak involuntarily, exactly 
in the manner of some modern mediums, and to utter warnings ap- 
propriate to circumstances he knew not of as a man. 

Ignatius, becoming obnoxious to the heathen authorities, was 
finally summoned from his bishopric to appear before Trajan, the 
Roman emperor, by whom he was condemned to be exposed to the 
fury of wild beasts in the theater, dying for no other offense than 
that of being a Christian. He was accompanied from Antioch on 
his journey to Rome by some of his friends, who wrote an ac- 
count of his journey and martyrdom, and among other remarkable 
declarations make the following : They say, " The night after his 
(Ignatius 1 ) suffering, we were together watching in prayer, that 



'522 APPENDIX. 

God would vouchsaie to us some assurance of what had passed; 
whereupon several in the company fell into a slumber (ecstatical, 
because watching in prayer), and therein saw visions wherein 
Ignatius teas represented ; for which, when we had conferred 
together, we glorified God the giver of all good things, being 
thereby assured of his blessedness." Here we have express testi- 
mony to the existence of inspiration, and spiritual visions in the 
beginning of the second century, and after the Apostles were all in 
their heavenly abodes. 

St. Polycarp also was a personal acquaintance and disci- 
ple of St. John, and was by him appointed bishop of Smyrna. 
Of his writings there is extant an epistle addressed to the Philip- 
pians, which has generally been considered genuine, and by iVrch- 
bishop Wake is undoubtingly received as such. It is written in 
the usual style and spiritual authoritativeness of the Apostolic epis- 
tles, though the author himself acknowledges that he does not 
" come up to the wisdom of the blessed and renowned Paul" 
(chap. ii. 2). Polycarp suffered martyrdom for the cause of Christ 
at an extreme old age, in the year 147, having been previously 
admonished in a vision concerning his impending fate. An ac- 
count of his martyrdom and the attending events was written in a 
circular letter by the church of Smyrna, of which he was the 
overseer, and addressed to all sister churches. This letter, 
speaking of others who suffered martyrdom at the same time with 
Polycarp, says, " While they were under torments they were ab- 
sent from the body, or, rather, the Lord Christ stood by them and 
conversed with them, and revealed things to them inconceivable by 
man, as if they were no longer men, but already become angels. 
As to Polycarp, he saw a vision three days before he was taken ; 
and behold the pillow under his head was all in a flame ; where- 
upon, turning to those around him, he said, ' I shall be burnt alive.' 
After his apprehension, and while he was going to the place of 
execution, there came a voice from heaven, saying, ' Be strong, and 
quit thyself like a man, Polycarp.' Now no one saw who spoke 
to him, but many of our brethren present heard the voice. [Prob . 
ably they were mediums, and heard this voice by the ear of the 
spirit.] Then Polycarp, looking sternly around on the people, 
shaking his hand at them, with a deep groan, and with a mouth 
but half open, as one who spoke not his own words, but those of 



APPENDIX. 523 

another, and looking up to heaven, said, ' Take away the wicked.' " 
Polycarp then having made a full and final confession of Christ, 
was committed to the flames, his countenance, according to the 
writers of this account, assuming a most heavenly placidity, and 
his body, during its dissolution, emitting a delightful perfume. 
" Such," say they, " was the end of Polycarp, who, in our time, 
was a truly apostolic and prophetical teacher ; for every word that 
went out of his mouth either has been already fulfilled or will be."* 

Hermas was a brother to Pius, a bishop of Rome, and wrote his 
tract in his old age, about the middle of the second century. It is 
divided into three parts, which are respectively entitled " Visions," 
" Commands," and " Similitudes." The whole purports to have 
been delivered to Hennas by various angels, but principally by 
one who appeared in the habit of a shepherd, whence the book is 
known as " The Shepherd of Hermas." The contents of this 
production remind one of the visions and angelic interviews of 
Ezekiel ; and I regard the instructions communicated as abun- 
dantly worthy the heavenly source whence they purport to have 
sprung. I undertake to assert that the book bears the most ample 
internal evidence of a spiritual origin, and I hazard little in saying 
that the disparaging remarks respecting its contents, made by Dr. 
Mosheim and some other writers, would have been gladly with- 
holden if their authors had understood the laws of inspiration and 
spiritual communication as they are illustrated by our modern 
manifestations 

The epistles of Clement, Barnabas, Ignatius, Polycarp, and the 
shepherd of Hermas were read in public religious assemblages 
throughout Christendom for four hundred years after Christ ; and 
though they were not generally received into the canon of the 
New Testament, they were considered as possessing an intrinsic 
value little inferior to that of the Apostolic writings themselves. 
The claims and teaching of these productions, therefore, must have 
received the f idlest sanction in the churches during that period ; 

* One of the versions of this Srnyrnoean letter which has come down to us, 
is accompanied by the following attestation : " This epistle was transcribed 
from the copy of Irengeus, the disciple of Polycarp, by Caius ; after which I, 
Pionius, wrote it from the same copy, which I found by a revelation wherein 
Polycarp appeared and directed me to it, as I have and do declare in a most 
solemn manner." 



524: APPENDIX. 

and among the very prominent claims and teachings of at least 
several of them, was that which sat forth in a very prominent light 
the doctrine of an existing and post-apostolic spiritual communi- 
cation. 

We have seen that the claims and declarations of these produc- 
tions are such as of themselves to supply every intermediate link 
in the history of such communication between the age of the 
Apostles and the middle of the second century. In addition to 
their testimony, Justin Martyr, who flourished about the year 150, 
declares, according to Eusebius, that the gift of prophecy shone 
brightly in the Church in his times. 

A little after the time of Justin Martyr, viz., about the year 180, 
Athenagoras was commissioned by his Christian brethren to carry 
an apology to the emperor of Rome. In this apology is given a 
clear description of what in our day would be called " speaking 
mediums" and which seem to have then abounded in the Church 
under the name of prophets and prophetesses. " I call them 
prophets," says he, " who being out of themselves and their own 
thoughts did utter forth whatsoever by the impelling power of the 
Spirit he wrought in them ; while the Divine Operator served him- 
self of them, or their organs, even as men do of a trumpet, blowing 
through it Thus have we prophets for witnesses and affirmers 
of our faith ; and is it not equal and worthy of human reason, O 
ye emperors, to yield up our faith to the Divine Spirit who moves 
the mouths of the prophets as his instruments?'''' 

Near the close of the second century, Ammonius Saccas, a 
learned Christian, who was at the same time deeply imbued with 
Hie Platonic philosophy, opened a school at Alexandria, which 
afterward attained to great celebrity. Among other things taught 
by Ammonius was the art of procuring communion with spirits or 
demons ; for " demon" then simply signified an invisible intelli- 
gence, without respect to goodness or badness. The disciples of 
Ammonius called this art " Theurgy ;" but whether the spirits, in- 
voked by its means, were always of an elevated character, may 
perhaps admit of a question. Suffice it to say, that the reality of 
the art was generally acknowledged, and the school thus estab- 
lished afterward exercised a considerable influence over the intel- 
lectual character of the Christian Church. 

The celebrated Irenseus, bishop of Lyons, who suffered martyr- 



APPENDIX. 525 

dom about the year 292, was said to be himself largely endowed 
with the gifts of the Spirit. Although his modesty forbade him 
from speaking of any of these gifts as pertaining to himself, he 
bears the most ample testimony in his Libri Contra H&reses to the 
wide prevalence of these qualifications among the Christians of his 
day, as will be seen by the following passage, which I give second- 
handed from a translated collection from the Christian Fathers now 
before me. He says, "Wherefore he (Jesus Christ) being the 
only Son of God, by his name those that are indeed his disci- 
ples, receiving grace from him, do now perform to the benefit of 
other men, according as every one has received the gift from him ; 
for some do cast out devils truly and effectually, so that those who 
are cleansed from the impure spirits themselves are converted to 
the faith and abide in the Church Others have foreknowledge 
of things future, and have visions, and the gift of prophesying; 
others by imposition of hands do restore the sick and heal all 
manner of diseases ; and as we have already said, the dead are 
raised, and do survive with us many years. But what shall I 
say ? for it is not possible to reckon up the number of gifts which 
the Church all the world over has received, and does exert even 
every day, in the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius 
Pilate, neither seducing any one nor taking from him any money. 

Moreover, they now speak in all tongues by the Spirit of 

God, even as St. Paul spake ; even as we ourselves have heard 
many of the brethren that have the prophetical gifts in the Church, 
and who speak by the Spirit in all languages, and profitably do 
make manifest the secrets of men's hearts, and openly publish the 
mysterious things of God." 

Toward the latter part of the second century there appeared at 
Pepuza, a little town in Phrygia, an austere man of the name of 
Montanus, who claimed to speak under the special influence of 
the Paraclete, or Comforter, promised by Jesus Christ to his disci- 
ples. By his efforts to reform the discipline and doctrines of the 
Church, as well, perhaps, as by some really fanatical pretensions, 
he earned for himself the ill will of many in the Church, who de- 
nounced him as a heretic. He however procured numerous fol- 
lowers, who spread over Asia, Africa, and a part of Europe. It is 
well known that by many of these an extraordinary degree of 
spiritual gifts and powers was claimed, and that wherever a body 



526 APPENDIX.. 

or church of Montanists existed, there were among its members a 
greater or less number of these " energumens" or mediums, called 
prophets and prophetesses, who dispensed instructions while un- 
der the influence of the Spirit. The physical and mental phenom- 
ena which they exhibited while the Spirit was active upon them, 
seem to have been identical with those often exhibited by me- 
diums in these modern times. I quote the following descriptive 
passage from an old work entitled, " An Historical Account of 
Montanism," published m 1709, anonymously, but under the full 
sanction of Dr. George Hicks, a person well versed in ancient 
ecclesiastical history : 

" In the manner of their public prophesyings," says this author, 
" their agitations were supposed to be involuntary ; and one of the 
main symptoms of that spirit which entered into their bodies in 
prophetic fits was, that it made them swell and heave in their 
breasts after a strange manner ; and they constantly averred, as 
well when under the operation of the said spirit as when out of it, 
that the organs of their bodies were by it overruled, and their 
tongues constrained to utter what they did without their own fore- 
knowledge of the matter ; which spirit, delivering itself by the 
mouth of these pretended prophets and prophetesses, gave itself 
out to be no other than the Paraclete (the Comforter), the very 
eternal Spirit of God. And it is observable 'hat this Spirit did 
nearly imitate most, if not all, fhe properties of the true Divine 
Spirit ; for the manner of it was to press much holiness, and to 
rebuke vice openly and powerfully," etc. Again he says : " There 
was very little order or regularity in their assemblies ; for whom- 
soever the agitations seized, whether man or woman, whether 
young or old, the person so agitated was not to be restrained 

the authority of the bishop himself, if present, not 

being held by them sufficient to lay an interdict in this case." 

It is well known to those versed in Christian antiquities, that 
the celebrated Tertullian (who died about ad. 231) bore the most 
ample testimony to the existence of spiritual gifts in his times. 
The following passage from his book concerning the Soul, you 
will doubtless concur with me in regarding as exceedingly inter- 
esting, presenting as it does scenes and revelations which fre- 
quently have their exact counterpart in the psychological and spir- 
itual developments of our own times : " We had a right," says he. 



APPENDIX. 527 

" after St. John, to expect prophesyings, and we do acknowledge the 
said spiritual gifts ; for there is at this day living among us a sister 
who is partaker of the gift of revelations, which she receives under 
ecstasy in the spirit in the public congregation ; wherein she con- 
verses with angels, sometimes also with the Lord, and sees and 
hears divine mysteries, and discovers the hearts of some per- 
sons, and administers medicine to such as desire it ; and when the 
Scriptures are read, or psalms are being sung, or they are preach- 
ing, or prayers are being offered up, subjects from thence are 
ministered in her visions. We had once some discourse touching 
the soul while this sister was in the spirit. After the public ser- 
vices were over, and most of the people gone, she acquainted us 
with what she saw, as the custom was ; for these things are heed- 
fully digested that they may be duly proved. Among other things 
she then told us that a corporeal soul appeared to her, and the 
spirit was beheld by her, being of a quality not void and empty, 
but rather such as might bo handled, delicate, and of the color of 
light and air, and in all respects bearing the human form.''''* Here, 
we have not only a " seeing medium" but a clairvoyant prescriber 
for diseases. You will not fail to be struck also with the exact 
resemblance between the description of the human spirit given by 
this ancient Christian seeress, and those we are daily hearing 
from the mouths of spiritual clairvoyants in our own times. Who 
can believe that so remarkable a concurrence in the descriptions 
given by those ancient and these modern visionists is the result 
of mere accident, rather than of the eternal, outstanding truth of the 
thing described ? 

You are aware that in the times of our Saviour and his Apostles 
there was a class of spirits, called demons, who would frequently 
come unbidden and take possession of the bodies of certain per- 
sons, not only sometimes speaking and acting through their organs 
in an apparently plausible and inoffensive manner, but often utter- 
ing violent language and afflicting and tormenting their mediums 
in diverse ways. Various opinions, some of them exceedingly 



* " Ostensa est mini anima corporaliter, et spiritus videbatur, sed non 
inanis et vacuse qualitatis, imo quae etiam teneri repromitteret, tenera et 
lucida et aerie coloris, et forma per omnia humana, hsec visio est '' — Tertul, 
Be Anima, Cap. IX. 



528 APPENDIX. 

vague, were entertained in those and subsequent times, respecting 
the nature of these demons, but I think the most rational opinion 
and one most accordant with certain incidental expressions of the 
Saviour, was that they were spirits of departed human beings.* 
Among the powers conferred by Jesus upon his disciples was that 
of expelling these unruly spirits from the bodies of those whom 
they afflicted ; and it appears from the testimony of the ancient 
Fathers that this power, with the occasion for its exercise, con- 
tinued specially conspicuous after the Apostolic age. It was be- 
lieved by the Christians (no doubt upon the basis of apparently 
good evidence) that these were the kinds of spirits who, claiming 
and receiving the title of gods, and manifesting themselves through 
the mediumship of heathen men and women, rendered oracles, 
and gave forth other sayings, in antagonism to Christianity. It 
was commonly remarked that these heathen spiritual manifesta- 
tions were embarrassed and unsuccessful in the presence of a 
Christian, and that it often sufficed for the Christian to simply 
wave his hand or blow his breath upon the medium, to suspend 
them altogether. We find Tertullian, in his Apology for the Chris- 
tian Religion, boldly challenging all heathendom to a trial, Avith 
the Christians, of the powers of their patron spirits and divinities, 
who it appears were, in his day, accustomed to take possession of 
and speak through the bodies of certain men. " Hitherto," he says, 
" we have used words ; we will now come to a demonstration of 
the very thing, that your Gentile gods are no one of them greater 
than another. For a decision of the point, let any one that is 
judged to be possessed by a devil be brought into open court 
before your tribunals ; when that spirit shall be commanded by a 
Christian to speak, he shall as truly confess himself a devil there 
as elsewhere he falsely claims to be a god. Or let one equally be 
produced who is among you Gentiles judged to be inspired of God, 
who waits at your altars, and is esteemed a sacred person by you; 

* Titus, in his address to his soldiers before Jerusalem, said: "For what 
man of virtue is there that does not know that those souls which are severed 
from their fleshy bodies in battles by the sword, are received by the ether, that 
purest of elements, and joined to that company which are placed among the 
stars ; that they become good demons, and propitious heroes, and show them- 
selves as such to their posterity afterward ?" — Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 
B. VI., chap, i., § 5. 



APPENDIX. 529 

nay, though he be actuated by one of your most venerated deities, 
be it Diana, the heavenly virgin, or iEsculapius, who prescribes 
your medicines, and who pretends to relieve the dying, yet these, 
or any others, when they are summoned, if they dare to lie to the 
Christian summoning, and if they do not confess themselves openly 
to be devils, then let that reproachful Christian's blood be spilt by 
you upon the spot.* 

Not far from the age of the developments last described, an oc- 
currence took place at Alexandria in which you will also recog- 
nize some of the distinctive traits of the spiritual phenomena of 
this day. During a violent persecution which raged in that city, 
there fell a victim to it a young Christian woman named Potomi- 
ana. She met her fate with astonishing fortitude, and three days 
afterward she appeared, by night, to one of the spectators of her 
death, named Basilides, a Roman soldier, and, covering his head 
with a crown, told him he must shortly be taken away. The 
vision was the means of converting Basilides, who shortly after- 
ward was " taken away," being rewarded with a " crown" of mar- 
tyrdom, as the vision had foreshadowed. " Many others also, at 
the same time in Alexandria, were wrought upon to the open con- 
fession of their faith in Christ by visions of Potomiana, who in 
dreams urged them to such confessions." It seems indeed to 
have been no uncommon thing in those times for heathens and 
scoffers at Christianity to be converted by monitions received in 
visions and dreams, and I might cite several cases of the kind did 
space permit. 

* See Tertul. Apol., chap, xxiii. Reeve, in his translation of Tertullian's 
Apology, quotes the following forcible passage from St. Cyprian, a pupil of 
Tertullian, in which the writer invites Demetrius, proconsul of Africa, to 
come and witness how the demons were made to writhe as under the tortures 
of a spiritual lash, and by the adjurations of the Christians were ejected, 
howling and groaning from the bodies of the obsessed, and acknowledging 
their terror of a coming judgment. He says to Demetrius: "0 si audire eos 
velles et videre quando a nobis adjurantur, et torquentur spiritualibus flagris, 
et verborum tormentis de obsessis corporibus ejeciuntur, quando ejulantes et 
gementes voce humana, et potestate divina flagella et verbera sentientes ven- 
turum judicium confitentur — veni, et cognosce vera esse quae dicimus." A 
little after he adds, " Videbis sub manu nostra stare vinctos, et tremere cap- 
tivos quos tu suspicis et veneraris ut dominis." 

Minucius Felix (Octavius, chap, xxviii.) might also be quoted to the same 
purpose 

34 



530 APPENDIX. 

According to Mr. Dodwell, a writer upon the spirituality of the 
ancient Church, " After the year 220, and from thence to 250, the 
extraordinary gifts of the Spirit did decrease and grow rare in 
comparison of the time preceding ; . . . . and at the latter end 
of that period, Origen acquaints us that though in his age the gift 
of prophesying still remained, yet it was decreased, and not in the 
same measure as in the foregoing age." This decline in spiritual 
gifts (which continued in after times until it attained its ultimatum) 
may be rationally attributed solely to the fact that the Church, 
from being at first poor and persecuted, was then becoming rich 
ana" powerful, and involved in that degree of worldliness and sen- 
sualism the which interior men have ever regarded as suffocating 
to spirituality. 

But although these extraordinary spiritual gifts, after the period 
above referred to, were not so common as they had been before, 
they still continued to be recognized as pertaining to particular in- 
dividuals, and as being exercised on various occasions. As one 
significant indication of this fact, it may be mentioned that 
Gregory, a pupil of the great Origen, and bishop of New Cesarea 
during the middle and a part of the latter half of the third century, 
received, by common consent, the title of Thaumaturgus, or wonder- 
worker, on account of the many miracles he was said to have per- 
formed. According to Eusebius, spiritual communications existed 
to some extent in the Church during the age of Constantine (fourth 
century), and that monarch himself sometimes experienced them — 
not only being admonished in his famous vision of the luminous 
cross, and the inscription upon it saying, " Conquer by this,' 1 but 
also being warned in dreams and visions concerning the machi- 
nations of his enemies.* And so firmly rooted was the belief in 
communications from evil as well as good spirits in the latter part 
of the fourth century, that the confessions of demons, that is, of 
persons or mediums whose vocal organs were supposed to be used 
by such, were sometimes resorted to as proof of certain doctrines 
of the orthodox Church. We thus indeed find the learned and ac- 
complished Ambrose, bishop of Milan, publicly citing the demons 
to testify in relation to the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity ; and 
when the demons, not daring to deny that doctrine, confirmed it in 

* Euseb. Life cf Constantine, B. I., chap, xxviii ; xlvi. 



APPENDIX. 531 

opposition to the Arians, the latter, so far from denying tne alleged 
spirituality of the testimony, charged Ambrose with having bribed 
the demons to testify as they did.* 

I have thus, my dear sir, traced the history of an actual, and by 
the Christians of those times generally recognized, spiritual inter- 
course in the Church down to about the close of the third century, 
and to about three hundred years after the death of St. John, the 
last surviving Apostle. The greatest embarrassment. I have ex- 
perienced in the foregoing exhibition of evidences upon this point, 
has been in making a judicious selection from the great mass of 
testimonies which go to establish the same conclusion, but most 
of which I am of course now compelled to leave unnoticed. And 
having thus proved, as I think in a most irrefutable manner, that, 
contrary to the popular impression among modern theologians, spir- 
itual intercourse did exist in the Church after the Apostolic age, 
and was continued in an unbroken chain of succession for these 
several generations subsequent to that period, the object of this 
epistle may be considered so far gained as to render necessary 
only the briefest allusions to the spirituality recognized in the 
Church in the ages still subsequent. 

I am well aware that soon after the age of Constantme the 
spiritual and thaumaturgic history of the Church begins to be 
much vitiated by monkish legends and pious lies, and that the 
records of spiritual manifestations between this age and the four- 
teenth or fifteenth century should be received with a more than 
usual degree of suspicion, unless fully authenticated and corrobo- 
rated. Still, it is certain that the Catholic Church has not, even 
to this day, lost its faith in spiritual manifestations and miraculous 
gifts ; and her history is dotted all along with seemingly well 
authenticated and well corroborated facts which go to prove that 
faith as something more than a mere superstitious fancy. 

Moreover, even the Protestant churches themselves, during the 
earlier portions of their history, seem to have generally recognized 
the fact of occasional interference, m various sensible forms, from 
the unseen world, as may be fully proved from the writings of 
Luther, Melancthon, Behmen, Fox, Glanvil, More, Wesley, and a 
host of others ; and although from the close of the third century 

* See Mosheim, B. H, Cent. IV., part II., chap, in., § 8. 



532 APPENDIX. 

through all succeeding times there have always been those who, 
standing nearly on the line of demarkation between Christian 
faith and unfaith, have denied and ridiculed the idea of any exist- 
ing and present spiritual manifestations, it is only since the publi- 
cation of a certain work* by Dr. Conyers Middleton, about one 
hundred years ago, that the persuasion has become general, even 
in the Protestant churches, that all spiritual manifestations were 
confined to the Apostolic age. In this work Dr. Mideleton en- 
deavors to impeach the authority of the primitive Fathers, and to 
show that there is no sufficient reason to believe upon their testi- 
mony that any extraordinary spiritual powers or gifts were con- 
tinued in the Church after the days of the Apostles. In his Preface 
to his book he distinctly intimates that his views on this subject 
were in opposition to those then almost universally entertained by 
Christians. 

It may thus De seen y my dear sir, that those wno believe that 
open spiritual intercourse, and the extraordinary powers and oper- 
ations connected with it, entirely ceased with the Apostolic age, 
have adopted this opinion in direct opposition to the uniform testi- 
mony of all ancient ecclesiastical history, and to the general belief 
of the Church and her learned clergy for seventeen out of the eighteen 
centuries of her existence ! I submit this result of our inquiries as 
confirming in the most satisfactory manner, what the words of our 
Saviour, indeed, seem to authorize us to take for granted, that spir- 
itual manifestations are a normal and divinely ordered gift of the 
Church of Christ, not confined to any particular age, but to be 
always enjoyed in a degree of purity and potency according as the 
Church remains faithful ; and if there has been, through the long 
ages succeeding the Apostles, a gradual decline in these gifts, and 
a final and almost total extinction of faith in their existence, this 
fact must, I think, be taken as a somewhat humiliating comment- 
ary on the Church's spiritual history, reminding one forcibly of 
the Apostle Paul's prophecy of the " falling away" that should 
occur. 

Viewing our modern spiritual demonstrations, therefore, merely 



* Entitled " A Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers which are supposed 
to have subsisted in the Christian Church from the Earliest Ages through sev- 
eral Centuries. London. 1749." 



APPENDIX. 533 

in a phenomenal aspect, and without regard to any intrinsic relia- 
bility or unreliability of communications coming from individual 
spiritual sources, I regard them as the voice of God calling a 
slumbering church and a lapsed and materialistic world to a new- 
ness of spiritual faith and life ; and in my humble judgment no 
man can entirely disregard this voice without imperiling his own 
highest spiritual interests. To my certain knowledge, sir, and I 
believe also to your own, the very fact of existing spiritual mani- 
festations, irrespective of their abstract character, has infused into 
many minds a renewed and intensified vitality of faith in the Word 
of God, in" the Christian Religion, and in the present communion 
and guidance of the Holy Spirit to those who diligently seek for 
it, which no other conceivable circumstance could have afforded. 
It is from considerations like these that I feel in duty bound to 
commend these current phenomena to universal investigation, and 
especially to investigation by the clergy. Whatever of truth and 
good may be derived from their merely scientific indications, should 
be promptly appropriated by the individual investigator, and should 
be placed in a form easily available to the general mind. What- 
ever of good and evil there may be mixed up in them (and the 
Spiritualism of all ages has had a good and an evil side), should be 
pointed out so clearly, that no discerning and conscientious mind 
can fail to distinguish them. It will then be known that the un- 
evangelical and unbiblical features which have confessedly, to 
some extent, made themselves conspicuous as connected with the 
externals of this new unfolding, are but instructive reflexes of the 
mental and moral condition of human beings who have passed 
ignorant and unregenerate into the world of spirits ; while the 
teachings of such spirits are no direct exponents of the character 
of that truer, higher, and more divine Spiritualism, available to 
every one who will seek it, and which consists in the most sensi- 
ble and lively communion with the holy angels, and with the Spirit 
of the Eternal Father ! When these things are generally 
known, we shall have a revival of all that purity and intensity of 
faith and charity which was exemplified among the primitive 
Christians, and religion will again have a living power over the 
human heart, and over the masses of mankind, which it has 
scarcely been known to exhibit since the days of the Apostles, 
martyrs, and confessors. 



534 APPENDIX. 

In the full conviction ot these truths, and with a high apprecia- 
tion of your noble self-sacrifice in an unpopular cause, allow me, 
dear sir, to subscribe myself, 

Yours, most sincerely, 

Wm. Fishbough. 
Williamsburgh, N. Y., March l%th, 1855. 



In Appendix D, I have referred to the course of Gen. Shields on presenting 
to the Senate of the United States a Memorial signed by myself and thirteen 
thousand Spiritualists, asking Congress to appoint a Scientific Commission to 
investigate the subject of " Spiritual Manifestations." As a part of the 
history of this matter, I deem it proper to preserve in this connection a copy 
of the Memorial itself. It was drawn up with characteristic ability by Prof. 
S. B. Brittan ; and Gen. Shields, after giving a brief analysis of its con- 
tents, remarked : "I have now given a faithful synopsis of this Petition, 
which, however unprecedented in itself, has been prepared with singular abil- 
ity, presenting the subject with great delicacy and moderation." This Memo- 
rial, though laid upon the table, is nevertheless preserved in the National 
Archives — and there it will remain as long as free government and free prin- 
ciples are recognized among men. In less time than has elapsed since the 
Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed the fredom of mans political 
rights, this Memorial will be regarded with even greater interest, as proclaim- 
ing the mental freedom of the human race ! 

A MEMORIAL. 

TO THE HONORABLE THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE 
OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS 
ASSEMBLED. 

Your Memorialists, citizens of the Republic of the United 
States of America, most respectfully beg leave to represent before 
your Honorable Body, that certain physical and mental phenom- 
ena, of questionable origin and mysterious import, have of late 
occurred in this country, and in almost all parts of Europe, and 
that the same are now so prevalent, especially in the Northern, 
Middle, and Western sections of the Union, as to engross a large 
share of the public attention. The peculiar nature of the subject 



I 



APPENDIX. 535 

to which the Memorialists desire to solicit the attention of your 
Honorable Body, may be inferred from a partial analysis of its 
phenomenal aspects, which are imperfectly comprehended in the 
following brief generalization : 

1. An occult force, exhibited in sliding, raising, arresting, hold- 
ing, suspending, and otherwise disturbing numerous ponderable 
bodies — apparently in direct opposition to the acknowledged laws 
of matter, and altogether transcending the accredited powers of 
the human mind — is manifested to thousands of intelligent and dis- 
criminating persons, while the human senses have hitherto failed 
to detect, to the satisfaction of the public, either the primary or 
proximate causes of these phenomena. 

2. Lights of various forms and colors, and of different degrees 
of intensity, appear in dark rooms, where no substances exist 
which are liable to develop a chemical action of phosphorescent 
illumination, and in the absence of all the means and instruments 
whereby electricity is generated or combustion produced. 

3. Another phase of the phenomena which we desire to bring to 
the notice of your august Body, is presented in the variety of sounds 
which are now extremely frequent in their occurrence, widely di- 
versified in their character, and more or less significant in their 
import. These consist in part of certain mysterious rappings, 
which appear to indicate the presence of an invisible intelligence ; 
sounds, such as are occasioned by the prosecution of several me- 
chanical and other occupations, are often heard ; there are others 
which resemble the hoarse voices of the winds and waves, with 
which, occasionally, harsh, creaking sounds are mingled, similar 
to those produced by the masts and rigging of a ship while it is 
laboring in a rough sea. At times, powerful concussions occur, 
not unlike distant thunder or the discharge of artillery, accompa- 
nied by an oscillatory movement of surrounding objects, and, in 
some instances, by a vibratory or tremulous motion of the floor of 
the apartment, or, it may be, of the whole house wherein the phe- 
nomena occur. On other occasions, harmonic sounds are heard, 
as of human voices, but more frequently resembling the tones of 
various musical instruments, among which those of the fife, drum, 
trumpet, guitar, harp, and piano have been mysteriously and suc- 
cessfully represented, both with and without the instruments, and, 
in either case, without any apparent human or other visible agency. 



536 APPENDIX. 

These phenomena appear to depend, so far as regards the process 
of their production, on the acknowledged principles of acoustics. 
There is obviously a disturbance of the sensational medium of the 
auditory nerves, occasioned by an undulatory movement of the air, 
though by what means these atmospheric undulations are produced 
does not appear to the satisfaction of acute observers. 

4. All the functions of the human body and mind are often and 
strangely influenced in what appear to be certain abnormal states 
of the system, and by causes which are neither adequately defined 
nor understood. The invisible power frequently interrupts what 
we are accustomed to denominate the normal operation of the fac- 
ulties, suspending sensation and the capacity for voluntary mo- 
tion, checking the circulation of the animal fluids, and reducing the 
temperature of the limbs and portions of the body to a death-like 
coldness and rigidity. Indeed, in some instances, respiration is 
entirely suspended for a season — it may be for hours or days to- 
gether — after which the faculties of the mind and functions of the 
body are fully restored. It is, moreover, confidently asserted, that 
these phenomena have been succeeded, in numerous cases, by per- 
manent mental and physical derangement, and it is as positively 
affirmed and believed that many persons who were suffering from 
organic defects, or from protracted and apparently incurable dis- 
eases, have been suddenly relieved or entirely renovated by the 
same mysterious agency. 

It may not be improper xo observe, m this connection, that two 
general hypotheses obtain with respect to the origin of these re- 
markable phenomena. The one ascribes them to the power and 
intelligence of departed spirits, operating on and through the sub- 
tile and imponderable elements which pervade and permeate all 
material forms ; and this, it should be observed, accords with the 
ostensible claims and pretensions of the manifestations themselves B 
Among those who accept this hypothesis will be found a large 
number of our fellow-citizens, who are alike distinguished for their 
moral worth, intellectual powers and attainments, as well as for 
their eminent social position and political influence. Others, not 
less distinguished in all the relations of life, reject this conclusion, 
and entertain the opinion that the acknowledged principles of 
physics and metaphysics will enable scientific inquirers to account 
for all the facts in a rational and satisfactory manner. While your 



APPENDIX. 537 

Memorialists can not agree on this question, but have honestly ar- 
rived at widely different conclusions respecting the probable causes 
of the phenomena herein described, they beg leave, most respect- 
fully, to assure your Honorable Body they nevertheless most cor- 
dially concur in the opinion that the alleged phenomena do really 
occur, and that their mysterious origin, peculiar nature, and import- 
ant bearing on the interests of mankind demand for them a patient, 
thorough, and scientific investigation. 

It can not reasonably be denied that the various phenomena to 
which the Memorial refers are likely to produce important and 
lasting results, permanently affecting the physical condition, men- 
tal developments, and moral character of a large number of the 
American people. It is obvious that these occult powers do influ- 
ence the essential principles of health and life, of thought and 
action, and hence they may be destined to modify the conditions 
of our being, the faith and philosophy of the age, and the govern- 
ment of the world* Moreover, deeming it to be intrinsically 
proper, and at the same time strictly compatible with the cardinal 
objects and essential spirit of our institutions, to address the repre- 
sentatives of the people concerning any and every subject which 
may be fairly presumed to involve the discovery of new principles, 
which must or may issue in momentous consequences to mankind, 
we, your fellow-citizens, whose names are appended to this Memo- 
rial, earnestly desire to be heard on this occasion. 

In pursuance, therefore, of the objects contemplated by the pres- 
ent Memorialists and in view of the facts and reasons herein con- 
tained or referred to, your fellow-citizens most respectfully petition 
your Honorable Body for the appointment of a Scientific Commis- 
sion to which this subject shall be referred, and for such an 
appropriation as shall enable the Commissioners to prosecute their 
inquiries to a successful termination. Believing that the progress 
of Science and the true interests of mankind will be greatly pro- 
moted by the proposed investigation, the undersigned venture to 
indulge the hope that their requests will be approved and sanctioned 
by the wisdom of your Honorable Body. And to this end the peti- 
tioners Will ever pray. 



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